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Vol.  VII  No.  3 


THE 


MAGAZINE  OF  HISTORY 


WITH 


NOTES  AND  QUERIES 


Amertcanus  sum:     American*  nihil  a  me  alienum  puto 


MARCH 

,    1908 

WILLIAM 

ABBATT 

• 

141 

East  25th  Street,  New  York 

Published 

Monthly 

$5.00  a 

Year 

50  Cents  a 

Number 

EXTRA  NUMBERS 

The  next  two  issues  of  the  "  Extra  Numbers  "  of  the  Magazine  will  com- 
prise several  very  interesting  and  scarce    Rebellion  items,  viz.: 

An  Englishman's  View  of  the  Fight  Between  the  Kearsarge  and  the 

Alabama,  by  F.  M.  Edge. 

Published  in  1864,  within  three  months  after  the  battle,  it  is  now  scarce  (I  paid 
$2.50  for  my  copy),  and  is  especially  interesting  as  the  only  narrative  by  an  English 
Union  sympathizer,  who  visited  Cherbourg  immediately  after  the  battle.  The 
preface  is  by  Captain  Winslow,  of  the  Kearsarge.  I  hope  to  illustrate  it  by  a  rare 
photograph  of  which  I  am  now  in  search.  Another  pamphlet  on  the  Alabama  from 
a  Confederate  sympathizer  in  England  (also  very  scarce)  will  be  added  if  it  can  be 
found,  as  also 

Aboard  a  Semmes  Prize, 

from  a  newspaper  of  1896. 

The  third  "  Extra  Number  "  will  be  devoted  to  the  very  interesting  subject  of 
Blockade-Running  during  the  Rebellion.  The  scarcest  book  on  this  subject  is 
"  Never  Caught,"  by  Captain  A.  Roberts.  It  was  published  in  London,  1867. 
The  name  of  "  Roberts "  is  fictitious,  the  author  being  no  less  a  person  than 
Augustus  Charles  Hobart-Hampden  (1822-1886),  third  son  of  the  sixth  Earl  of 
Buckinghamshire,  one  of  the  English  Rebellion  sympathizers,  and  noted  later  as 
Hobart  Pasha,  Admiral  in  the  Turkish  Navy.  His  biographer  describes  him  as  "  1 
bold  buccaneer  of  the  Elizabethan  period,  who  by  some  strange  perverseness  of  fate 
was  born  into  the  Victorian." 

His  book  is  most  interesting,  and  not  entirely  devoted  to  blockade-running, 
as  he  visited  Charleston  while  the  "  Swamp  Angel  "  was  throwing  shells  into 
the  city,  and  also  Richmond,  where  he  met  Jeff.  Davis  and  other  Confederates, 
and  from  which  he  made  his  way  northward  through  the  lines  to  Washington. 

The  price  of  the  "  Extra  Numbers  "  will  hereafter  be  One  Dollar  each,  unless 
otherwise  stated.  I  regret  that  the  subscriptions  for  No.  1  were  so  few  that  I 
shall  find  myself  a  loser  on  the  venture  unless  the  remaining  copies  shall  be  taken. 
This  I  urge  on  all  my  subscribers,  as  the  contents  cannot  be  duplicated  elsewhere 
for  less  than  $5.00,  and  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  expect  that  a  publication  of  this 
sort  will  not  be  suffered  to  result  in  a  loss  to  its  promoter. 

Several  other  valuable  items  are  preparing  for  the  future  numbers,  due  notice 
of  which  will  be  given. 

141  East  25th  St.,  New  York  WILLIAM  ABBATT 

PLEASE   SEND    YOUR  SUBSCRIPTIONS   FOR  THESE  TWO  AT  ONCE 


THE  MAGAZINE  OF  HISTORY 

WITH    NOTES   AND    QUERIES 

Vol.  VII  MARCH,  1908  No.  3 


CONTENTS 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE  MEN  AT  THE  CONCORD  FIGHT    .     .     . 

F.    B.    Sanborn     125 

THE  ANTI-RENT  WAR  OF  DUTCHESS  COUNTY,  NY... 

Prof.  Irving  F.  Wood     138 

KENTUCKY  COUNTY  NAMES       ....       Prof.  H.  A.  Scomp     144 

PRACTICAL  WORK   OF  THE   SONS  OF  THE   REVOLUTION 

1.     In  New  York     .     .     .     Henry  F.  Drowne,  Sec'y  N.  Y.  Socy.     155 

LINCOLN'S  OFFER  TO  GARIBALDI     .     Charles  Francis  Adams     159 

GENEALOGICAL: 

Four    Revolutionary    Soldiers       ....       Eugene  F.  McPike     166 

THREE    EARLY   WASHINGTON    MONUMENTS       .... 

James    F.    Hunnewell     170 

ORIGINAL  DOCUMENTS: 

Letter  of  Col.  Theodorick  Bland  to  Jefferson 175 

Extracts  from  Valley  Forge  Orderly  Book  of  Major  Neville       .       .176 
Extracts  from  Journal  of  Thomas  Rodney,    1797 177 

MINOR   TOPICS: 

The    Quebec    Ter-Centenary 178 

More   of    the   Levant 183 

NOTES  AND  QUERIES: 

The  Refugees  from  Long  Island 184 

Colonel   Israel   Keith 185 

Ephraim   Douglass 185 

Gov.  Thomas  Pownall 186 

THE  DUTCHMAN'S  FIRESIDE:     Chapter  XXXIX       .... 

James  K.  Paulding     187 

BOOK     REVIEWS 197 


Entered  as  Second-class  matter,   March  I,  1905,    at  the  Post  Office  at  New  York,   N.   Y. 
Act  of  Congress  March  3,  1879. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

The  Institute  of  Museum  and  Library  Services  through  an  Indiana  State  Library  LSTA  Grant 


http://www.archive.org/details/magazineofhistorv7n3abba 


THE  MAGAZINE  OF  HISTORY 

WITH  NOTES  AND  QUERIES 

Vol.  VII  MARCH,    1908  No.  3 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE   MEN  AT  THE  CONCORD  FIGHT 

WHEN  I  accepted  an  invitation  to  make  an  address  on  the  sub- 
ject of  "  The  Men  of  New  Hampshire  in  the  Concord  Fight," 
it  was  in  the  hope  of  finding  out  something  about  it.  I  was 
then  in  perfect  darkness  on  this  question, — "  How  could  any  man  from 
New  Hampshire  take  a  part  in  a  sunrise  engagement  twenty  miles  from 
your  province  border,  when  the  Massachusetts  men  who  fought  there 
had  to  get  up  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  do  it?  "  For  weeks  I 
sought  in  vain  the  answer  to  this  conundrum.  The  books  throw  no  light 
on  it;  those  chroniclers  of  the  unknown  and  unknowable,  the  New  York 
dailies,  had  nothing  to  invent  about  it;  and  I  was  all  but  ready  to  give  up 
my  engagement,  as  the  British  did  theirs  on  that  eventful  day,  and  take 
refuge  in  Boston  from  the  incensed  antiquarians  whom  I  had  deceived 
with  false  hopes. 

But  we  have  in  old  Concord,  near  the  scene  of  that  running  fight, 
an  accomplished  native  antiquarian,  Mr.  George  Tolman,  who  had  long 
been  studying  our  historical  affair,  and  in  my  despair  I  appealed  to  him. 
It  was  a  forlorn  hope,  but  it  was  not  disappointed.  He  placed  in  my 
hands  the  printed  story  of  "  The  Remarkable  Military  Life  of  Major 
Thompson  Maxwell,"  a  New  Hampshire  warrior,  born  160  years  ago, 
and  still  living  for  aught  that  appears  to  the  contrary  in  that  document. 
But  I  have  reason  to  think  that  he  died  and  was  buried  near  Detroit 
some  time  before  he  reached  his  hundredth  year.  The  story,  which  is 
truly  remarkable  and  very  illustrative  of  New  Hampshire  qualities,  was 
published  in  October,  1891,  in  the  New  England  Historical  and  Geneal- 
ogical Register,  that  useful  quarterly  which  we  all  revere,  and  upon  whose 
high  authority  the  celebrated  and  corrosive  "  higher  criticism  "  has  made 
no  successful  attack.  It  was  written  down  some  seventy  years  earlier  by 
Benjamin  Gleason  of  Charlestown,  Mass.,  who  had  married  a  kinswoman 
of  Major  Maxwell,  and  it  was  dictated  to  him  by  the  hero  himself,  then 

—Read  before  the  N.  H.  S.  A.  R. 


126  NEW     HAMPSHIRE     MEN     AT    THE     CONCORD     FIGHT. 

on  a  visit  from  Michigan  to  his  relatives  near  Boston,  where  he  was  him- 
self born. 

Thompson  Maxwell,  however,  was  but  the  youngest  son  of  a  stal- 
wart family  which  had  emigrated  from  Ireland  (Tyrone  county  and  Win- 
terburn  parish),  in  1733,  ten  years,  almost,  before  this  lively  lad  was 
born.  His  father,  Hugh  Maxwell,  born  in  1699,  married  in  Ireland  a 
wife  named  Corbett,  and  their  three  oldest  children  (out  of  seven)  were 
born  in  Ireland.  The  most  distinguished  of  the  sons  was  Colonel  Hugh 
Maxwell,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  town  of  Heath  in  northwestern  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  a  brave  and  useful  officer  all  through  the  Revolutionary 
war.  He  was  nine  years  older  than  his  brother  Thompson,  and  enlisted 
earlier  (in  1754)  in  the  French  and  Indian  war  which  preceded  our 
Revolution,  and  trained  many  of  our  soldiers  to  military  life.  Hugh 
Maxwell  served  through  five  campaigns  in  the  Lake  George  region  and 
in  Canada,  and  was  one  of  those  entrapped  and  surrendered  at  Fort  Wil- 
liam Henry  in  1756 ;  but  he  escaped  and  was  promoted  to  be  ensign  before 
the  surrender  of  Quebec.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  his  brother  Thompson 
(born  in  his  mother's  fiftieth  year)  ran  away  from  his  home  in  Bedford, 
near  Concord,  where  he  was  born  September  22,  1742,  and  enlisted  in  a 
company  of  "  Provisional  Rangers,"  commanded  by  Captain  Nehemiah 
Lovell  of  Dunstable,  the  border  town  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hamp- 
shire, which  is  now  Nashua  on  your  side  on  the  line.  It  is  hinted  by  the 
descendants  of  the  elder  children  of  the  Maxwells  that  Thompson  was  a 
ne'er-do-well  and  could  not  be  kept  under  family  discipline  very  well, 
hence  his  early  military  experiences.  Be  that  as  it  may,  you  will  see  that 
he  was  an  effective  soldier,  and  in  every  war  that  his  country  had  from 
his  fifteenth  year  to  his  seventy-fifth.  The  Rangers  whom  he  joined  were 
an  unattached  company  of  those  extraordinary  Rangers  of  Rogers  and 
Stark,  whose  prowess  makes  a  proud  chapter  in  the  history  of  that  drag- 
ging war.  In  all,  these  rangers  numbered  some  700,  and  distinguished 
themselves  greatly  by  their  fights  against  both  French  and  Indians. 
Recalling  the  deeds  of  his  youth,  more  than  sixty  years  after,  Thompson 
Maxwell  said: 

"  Active  and  patriotic,  our  march  under  Capt.  Lovell  was  to  Penny- 
cook,  now  Concord, — thence  to  Pigwacket  Pond  in  Fryeburg,  Maine. 
Thence  we  scoured  the  woods  for  Indians  to  the  Connecticut  River  near 
White  River,  Vt.  From  there  we  reconnoitered  down  river  to  Number 
Four,  now  Charlestown,  N.  H.,  which  was  burned  by  Indians  three  days 


NEW     HAMPSHIRE     MEN     AT    THE     CONCORD     FIGHT.  I  27 

before  we  got  there.  Thence  southward  to  Hinsdale;  then  northward  to 
Brattleboro,  and  to  Black  River,  one  day's  march  above  No.  4;  then  to 
White  River,  Connecticut  River,  and  back  to  Number  Four  again. 
Twenty  or  twenty-five  of  us  finally  returned,  via  Walpole,  Keene,  and 
Swanzey,  to  Winchendon,  Fitchburg,  Groton,  etc.,  and  so  home." 

In  copying  this  record  I  have  inserted  a  few  connecting  links  in  the 
rapid  narrative  of  our  octogenarian,  who  may  have  been  drawn  aside  a 
little  from  the  accepted  course  of  history  by  the  fervor  of  his  patriotism 
or  the  activity  of  his  vivid  memory.  Not  yet  sixteen  when  discharged 
from  this  first  expedition,  Maxwell  soon  thirsted  for  war  again,  and  in 
April,  1758,  he  enlisted  once  more  in  Captain  Lovell's  company,  which 
now  seems  to  have  joined  the  Rangers  of  the  celebrated  Robert  Rogers. 
They  rendezvoused  at  what  Maxwell  calls  "  Fort  Edward,"  which  I  sup- 
pose to  have  been  in  the  Connecticut  valley  near  Deerfield.  And  now  I 
follow  Maxwell's  narrative  again  verbatim : 

"Thence  to  Deerfield;  up  Deerfield  river  to  Rice's  fort  in  Charle- 
mont;  over  the  mountains  to  Adams  and  Williamstown,  to  Fort  Hawkes, 
Maj.  Hawkes  and  his  whole  party  prisoners.  Get  provisions:  up  the 
Hoosac  river  to  within  10  miles  of  Bennington;  cross  to  Troy,  to  Half- 
Moon  fort  (now  Waterford)  on  Mohawk  river.  To  Fort  Edward 
again, — Gen.  Abercrombie  in  command  (strict  and  severe)  with  4,000 
British,  3,000  provincials  and  700  rangers,  besides  Fraser's  Scotch  regi- 
ments with  their  kilts,  plaids,  etc.  We  reconnoiter  from  Fort  Edward  to 
Fort  George,  and  east  of  Lake  George  to  the  bluffs,  15  miles;  when  the 
Indians  attack,  the  first  day  in  a  body,  second  day  scatteringly,  and  the 
third  day  are  dispersed.  We  then  arrive  at  Fort  Anne.  While  Maj. 
Rogers'  party  are  shooting  at  a  mark,  after  breakfast,  Maj.  (Israel) 
Putnam  with  his  battalion  moves  for  Fort  Edward.  At  two  miles  ad- 
vance we  are  ambushed,  and  fight  hard  for  six  hours  from  10  till  4 
o'clock.  The  brave  Maj.  Putnam  (was)  made  prisoner,  suffering  greatly 
after  his  capture;  58  men  were  killed,  84  wounded  in  the  conflict.  The 
firing  is  heard  at  Fort  Edward.  In  the  evening  recruits  came  with  carts 
to  bear  off  the  dead,  and  the  wounded  are  borne  on  the  back  or  biers  to  the 
fort.  We  remained  ten  days  at  Fort  Edward,  and  the  army  then  moves 
to  Fort  George. 

In  August  we  crossed  Lake  George  to  Sabbath  Day  Point;  Sunday 
had  an  action;  the  boats  returned  to  Fort  George,  the  army  advance  to 
Ticonderoga.     Lord  Howe  and  Gen.  Abercrombie  order  a  reconnoiter 


128  NEW     HAMPSHIRE     MEN     AT    THE     CONCORD     FIGHT. 

along  the  Indian  trails.  A  sergeant,  a  corporal,  and  three  or  four  men  of 
our  scouting  party,  arranged  six  or  eight  rods  apart,  directed  by  occasional 
whistling,  move  cautiously  through  the  woods;  but  the  Indians  waylay 
watchfully,  and,  unseen,  fire  upon  us,  killing  the  corporal  and  file  leader; 
and  we  are  obliged  to  retreat.  Hurrying  over  a  hill  I  am  met  abruptly 
by  two  Indians,  who  give  chase  for  a  mile;  when,  at  a  breathing  pause, 
with  deliberate  aim,  I  kill  one  and  leave  the  other  logged.  Then,  meeting 
the  sergeant,  he  swims  the  outlet  with  me  holding  on  by  his  shoulders,  and 
we  arrive  safely  at  the  fort.  September  the  attack:  Ticonderoga  stormed; 
loss  1500.    October  at  Fort  Edward,  December,  home." 

Thus  concisely  does  the  young  warrior  describe  the  disastrous  events 
which  in  Parkman's  history  occupy  many  pages;  the  adventures  of  Put- 
nam, Rogers,  and  Stark;  the  rash  attack  on  Montcalm  at  Ticonderoga 
and  the  victory  of  the  French.  The  next  year,  1759,  he  is  off  again, — 
this  time  under  Capt.  Samuel'  Brewer  of  Waltham,  enlisted  for  eight 
months,  and  again  ordered  to  Fort  Edward.  In  June  he  writes:  "In 
an  action  at  Rogers'  Rock,  400  feet  high,  west  of  Lake  George,  we  lose 
30  men;  retreat  to  Fort  George,  and  have  a  hard  fight  at  landing." 
(This,  I  think,  was  one  of  Stark's  engagements.)  "To  Ticonderoga, 
and  thence  to  Crown  Point:  find  both  evacuated.  December  to  St. 
Francis,  Rogers  commanding;  lose  all  our  blankets,  etc.  Massacre  and 
burning;  surprisals  frequent  by  the  enemy.  Seventy  of  us  under  Gen. 
Stark,  to  Number  Four;  realize  great  suffering.  Thirty-seven  die;  the 
rest  surviving  various  hardships,  get  safely  home  at  last." 

Here  ended  the  second  campaign.  But  still  unsatisfied  with  war,  in 
1760,  after  Wolfe's  capture  of  Quebec,  Maxwell  enlisted  again,  this 
time  under  Captain  Barnes  of  Chelmsford.  The  men  marched  to  Cham- 
bly,  St.  John,  Montreal,  and  after  wintering  in  Canada  went  on  to  De- 
troit and  to  Mackinaw,  occupying  1761  and  1762  in  garrison  duty  in  the 
new  possessions  of  England.  In  the  spring  of  1763  Maxwell  was  at  the 
point  where  Chicago  now  stands,  and  in  the  summer  he  was  near  Detroit 
during  the  conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  which  he  briefly  describes.  This  was 
his  longest  campaign  as  a  youth;  but  he  soon  engaged  in  a  longer  one, 
that  of  matrimony.  Returning  to  Massachusetts  late  in  1763  he  married 
Sibyl  Wyman,  "being  then  22  years  old  and  she  27;  we  lived  together 
3 81  years."  And  now  Maxwell  began  to  be  a  New  Hampshire  man. 
He  moved  to  Milford,  N.  H.,  in  1764,  then  to  Amherst  and  continued 
farming,  teaming,  etc.,  in  New  Hampshire,  with  frequent  trips  to  Boston, 


NEW     HAMPSHIRE     MEN     AT    THE     CONCORD     FIGHT.  1 29 

until  the  Revolution  began  in  1775.  But  do  not  imagine  that  his  resi- 
dence in  Hillsborough  county  kept  him  away  from  the  scene  of  activity  in 
Boston,  for  in  the  early  winter  of  i773-'74  he  was  concerned  in  a  famous 
affair,  which  he  thus  records: 

"  1773,  December  16,  was  in  Boston,  when  the  tea  was  thrown  over- 
board. Seventy-three  spirited  citizen  volunteers,  in  the  costume  of  In- 
dians, in  defiance  of  royal  authority,  accomplished  the  daring  exploit. 
John  Hancock  was  then  a  merchant.  My  team  was  loaded  at  his  store 
for  Amherst,  N.  H.,  and  put  up,  to  meet  in  consultation  at  his  house  at 
2  p.  m.  The  business  was  soon  planned  and  executed.  The  patriots 
triumphed." 

Without  claiming  to  have  been  one  of  the  seventy-three  spirited  citi- 
zens, Maxwell  leaves  us  to  infer  that  he  was  "  thar  or  tharabout  "  as 
the  backwoods  preacher  said  of  Abraham  when  the  Ark  was  building. 
And  now  we  come  to  the  immediate  subject  of  my  story,  the  fight  at  Con- 
cord, all  which  Maxwell  saw,  and  a  part  of  which  he  was.  The  account 
goes  on : 

"  1775,  April  18.  Happened  at  Boston  with  my  team,  and  that- 
evening  to  Bedford,  at  Capt.  Wilson's  (my  brother-in-law)  and  con- 
cluded to  stay.  The  team  was  sent  home  to  Amherst,  N.  H.  Messrs. 
Hancock  and  Sam  Adams  at  Lexington.  Lieut.  Col.  Smith  and  Maj. 
Pitcairn,  with  900  British  regulars,  met  the  alarmed  colonists  at  Lexing- 
ton, 19th,  and  then  to  Concord,  destroying  stores,  arms,  etc.  At  the 
bridge  opposed  by  Capts.  Davis,  Buttrick,  Wilson,  etc.,  with  about  500 
men.  The  British  retreat,  and  are  met  by  Lord  Percy's  recruit  of  400 
or  500  British,  with  two  field  pieces,  at  Lexington;  the  Americans  fol- 
lowing them  to  Charlestown.  This  day  Capt.  Wilson  killed.  The  re- 
port of  Americans  killed,  50,  and  wounded,  70;  of  the  British,  65  killed, 
180  wounded,  25  prisoners;  probably  a  much  larger  number.  Our  com- 
pany from  Amherst  arrive  under  Capt.  Crosby.  My  rank  is  lieutenant. 
Soon  2,000  troops  are  assembled  at  Cambridge,  Gen.  Ward  commanding. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  Amherst  company,  in  which  Thomp- 
son Maxwell  was  ensign  or  second  lieutenant,  got  to  Concord  in  time  to 
help  drive  the  redcoats  back  to  Boston;  their  arrival  was  a  few  days  later,, 
and  it  is  probable  that  New  Hampshire's  one  known  soldier  in  the  Con- 
cord fight  went  back  to  Amherst  before  the  Bunker  Hill  fight  occurred, 
two  months  later.     But  by  the  time  his  older  brother,  Hugh  Maxwell, 


I30  NEW     HAMPSHIRE     MEN     AT    THE     CONCORD     FIGHT. 

who  had  settled  in  what  is  now  the  town  of  Heath,  on  the  Vermont  bor- 
der, in  Western  Massachusetts,  had  come  down  from  his  hill-farm  with 
a  company  of  Hampshire  county  soldiers,  of  which  he  was  made  captain, 
three  weeks  before  Bunker  Hill,  he  found  the  Amherst  lieutenant  there, 
in  Colonel  Reed's  regiment,  Hugh  Maxwell  himself  being  in  Colonel 
Prescott's  regiment,  and  detailed  the  night  before  the  battle  to  aid  in 
fortifying  the  hill.  Thompson's  account  of  the  battle  is  brief;  he  had  seen 
so  many  battles  before  he  told  his  story  in  1821  that  he  had  not  a  great 
deal  of  space  for  each  one.    He  says: 

"June  16,  1775.  Col.  Reed's  regiment  was  stationed  at  Charles- 
town  Neck,  Prescott  and  others  on  Bunker  Hill.  In  the  evening  I  walk 
on  the  Hill  with  Captain  Reed.  My  brother,  Captain,  afterwards  Col- 
onel Hugh  Maxwell,  an  engineer,  and  about  1,000  men  were  at  work 
there.  I  drive  some  stakes.  June  17,  I  engage  in  the  action,  and  then  re- 
treat to  Winter  Hill,  General  Sullivan  of  New  Hampshire  there  com- 
manding." 

Hugh  Maxwell  had  a  more  prominent  share  in  the  fight.  One  of 
his  company,  Aaron  Barr  of  Rowe,  near  Heath,  was  the  first  man  wounded 
in  the  action,  and  was  carried  back  to  Cambridge.  His  captain  remained 
in  the  redoubt  which  he  had  helped  build  until  the  British  grenadiers 
came  swarming  over  the  low  mound.  One  of  them  aimed  at  Hugh  Max- 
well and  wounded  him  in  the  shoulder,  making  his  right  arm  powerless. 
Prescott  then  ordered  a  retreat,  which  General  Stark  covered  with  his 
New  Hampshire  marksmen,  and  Captain  Maxwell  picked  up  his  coat  with 
his  left  hand, — he  had  thrown  it  off  in  the  heat  of  action, — and  fell 
back  with  his  men  to  the  Neck  and  to  Cambridge,  where  his  wound  was 
dressed.  It  proved  serious,  and  it  was  not  till  September  that  he  was  able 
to  join  his  family  in  Heath  and  provide  for  them  in  the  coming  winter, 
while  he  returned  to  the  army  besieging  Boston.  Meanwhile  General 
Washington  had  reached  Boston  and  taken  command,  and  Thompson 
Maxwell  thus  proceeds  with  his  account: 

"July  3,  1775,  Gen.  Washington  arrived  at  Cambridge.  The  last 
of  August  I  went  with  a  select  number  of  volunteers  to  Hog  Island,  and 
brought  off  cattle,  sheep,  horses,  etc.  Soon  after,  a  British  sloop  of 
war  got  aground  in  Mystic  River,  having  12  guns  and  a  guard  of  16  men. 
A  small  part  of  us  made  an  attack  on  them;  ten  of  the  16  escaped  in  the 
boat,  but  we  took  the  other  six  prisoners  and  burned  the  vessel.  Gen. 
Putnam  was  now  commanding  at  Winter  Hill,  with  about  5,000  men." 


NEW     HAMPSHIRE     MEN     AT    THE     CONCORD     FIGHT.  131 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Elkanah  Watson  of  Plymouth,  whose 
schoolmaster  had  been  Alexander  Scammell,  a  New  Hampshire  officer  of 
distinction  afterwards,  visited  Washington's  army  from  Providence,  es- 
corting a  ton  and  a  half  of  powder  which  his  employer,  John  Brown,  the 
rich  merchant,  had  just  imported.  He  found  Washington  "  in  the  act 
of  admonishing  a  militia  colonel  with  some  animation,"  and  was  sent  with 
his  welcome  supply  to  store  it  at  Mystic,  two  miles  northward.  He  adds 
these  details,  which  are  characteristic  of  the  early  months  of  the  war: 

"  Whilst  delivering  my  load  at  the  powder-house,  I  observed  to  the 
young  officer  who  escorted  me,  '  Sir,  I  am  happy  to  see  so  many  barrels 
of  powder  here  already,'  He  whispered  a  secret  in  my  ear,  with  an  in- 
discretion that  marked  the  novice  in  military  affairs:  'These  barrels  are 
filled  with  sand  to  deceive  the  enemy,  should  any  spy  by  chance  look  in.' 
While  passing  through  the  camp  I  overheard  a  dialogue  between  a  cap- 
tain and  one  of  his  privates  which  forcibly  illustrated  the  character  and 
condition  of  this  army:  '  Bill '  said  the  captain,  '  go  and  bring  a  pail  of 
water  for  the  mess.'  '  I  shan't;  it  is  your  turn  now,  Cap'n,  I  got  the  last 
one.'  " 

The  siege  went  on  to  success,  and  Thompson  Maxwell  and  his 
brother  went  to  join  the  army  in  New  York  and  along  the  Hudson.  This 
is  briefly  stated  thus: 

"  March  17,  1776.  Boston  is  evacuated  by  the  British.  The  20th 
we  march  to  Boston,  the  22nd  to  Mendon,  and  the  24th  to  Providence; 
and  so  on  to  New  Haven,  and  in  vessels  to  New  York.  April  nth  we 
arrive  there;  our  number  4,000  troops.  April  18,  with  Gen.  Sullivan's 
brigade  of  these  4,000  men,  I  leave  New  York  City  for  Albany." 

These  dates  are  no  doubt  exact,  and  show  the  ordinary  rate  of  travel 
for  our  New  Hampshire  soldiers  when  brigaded.  Twenty  days  were  oc- 
cupied in  marching  and  sailing  to  New  York  from  captured  Boston.  In 
the  muster  for  the  siege  of  Boston,  the  year  before,  after  the  general 
alarming  of  the  country  by  the  invasion  of  Lexington  and  Concord,  the 
movements  of  individual  soldiers  were,  of  course,  more  rapid;  but  I 
hardly  think  any  man  from  New  Hampshire  took  part  in  the  chase  of 
the  redcoats  from  Concord  to  Charlestown,  April  19,  1775,  unless,  like 
Thompson  Maxwell,  he  had  a  brother-in-law  near  the  scene  of  action, 
and  was  spending  the  night  there.  Very  likely  there  were  other  New 
Hampshire  teamsters  from  Rockingham,  Strafford,  or  Cheshire  counties, 


132  NEW     HAMPSHIRE     MEN     AT    THE     CONCORD     FIGHT. 

who  happened  also  to  be  near  Boston  that  April  day,  and  who  took  a 
hand  in  the  encounter,  but  if  any  such  there  were,  I  have  not  learned 
their  names.  Could  the  place  of  invasion  have  been  known  even  twenty- 
four  hours  before  hand,  no  doubt  a  thousand  New  Hampshire  marksmen 
would  have  been  there,  or  on  the  road  when  our  "  embattled  farmers  " 
"  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world." 

They  have  ever  been  quick  to  resist  invasion  and  slow  to  invade 
the  rights  of  others.  This  is  Flag  Day,  your  announcement  tells  me,  the 
anniversary,  that  is,  of  the  first  display  of  the  flag  of  the  United  States. 
I  could  wish  it  were  the  anniversary  of  that  running  up  of  the  old  state 
flag  of  New  Hampshire,  for  which  provision  was  made  by  our  legisla- 
ture in  June,  1786,  when  a  committee  of  the  general  court,  sitting  here  at 
Concord,  and  having  for  its  function  "  to  devise  Standards  "  reported 
thus: 

"  That  the  field  of  the  New  Hampshire  Flag  be  a  dark  purple  on  a 
white  ground,  an  oval  shield  in  the  middle,  encircled  with  laurel,  within 
which  is  to  be  the  following  device,  viz. :  A  man  armed  at  all  points  in 
a  posture  of  defence,  his  hand  on  his  sword,  the  sword  half  drawn;  the 
motto,  Freedom,  not  Conquest:  thirteen  silver  stars  dispersed  over  the 
field  of  the  Standard,  and  properly  arranged  so  as  to  encircle  the  device 
and  motto." 

How  this  looked,  or  would  have  looked,  artistically,  if  ever  wrought 
in  silk  and  silver,  I  cannot  say,  for  it  was  soon  superseded  by  the  flag  of 
the  Union  under  the  constitution  of  Washington,  Franklin,  and  Madison, 
adopted  in  1787.  The  IS  man  armed  at  all  points  "  no  longer  carries  a 
sword  either  drawn  or  half-drawn  "in  a  posture  of  defence";  he  uses, 
as  the  brave  Boers  did  so  effectively,  in  their  long  resistance  to  British 
conquest,  the  long-range  rifle,  which  has  put  even  the  bayonet  out  of 
countenance.  But  that  noble  motto — "  Freedom,  not  Conquest," — I 
could  wish  had  been  engraved  among  the  increasing  stars  of  our  national 
standard,  to  check  that  lust  of  invasion  taken  at  second-hand  from  Euro- 
pean empires,  which  cannot  be  indulged  in  a  free  republic,  however  pow- 
erful, without  endangering  the  whole  fabric  of  democracy.  I  am 
addressing  you  to-day  in  commemoration  of  one  of  those  shining  points 
in  the  world's  history,  the  running  fight  from  Concord  to  Boston,  which 
takes  rank  with  Marathon  and  Salamis  in  illustration  of  this  happy  device 
and  motto  of  our  old  state  flag.  They  were  victories  over  conquest,  by 
freedom,  defeats  of  invasion  by  sturdy  defenders  of  their  own  homes, 


NEW     HAMPSHIRE     MEN     AT    THE     CONCORD     FIGHT.  1 33 

who  were  free-men  armed  at  all  points  against  the  hosts  of  despotism. 
Though  restricted  to  a  single  point,  my  subject  admits  a  more  ample 
treatment. 

I  have  been  able  to  find  only  this  one  hero  from  New  Hampshire 
who  assisted  the  men  of  Massachusetts  at  Lexington  and  Concord;  but 
I  must  ask  you  to  notice  that  he  was  so  early  and  so  often  in  the  field  of 
war  that  he  has  the  effect  of  a  whole  platoon,  if  not  of  an  entire  regi- 
ment. Think  of  a  warrior  who  fought  under  Stark,  Putnam,  and  Lord 
Howe  in  1758;  who  helped  suppress  Pontiac's  Indian  conspiracy  in  1763, 
was  in  the  Boston  Tea-Party  of  1773,  and  who  saw  his  kinsman  shot 
down  by  his  side  in  April,  1775.  These  were  ancient  wars;  but  I  know 
a  lady  of  Plymouth  who  has  heard  Priscilla  Cotton,  the  sister  of  Elkanah 
Watson  whom  I  just  cited,  tell  how  she  saw  Indians  rush  down  School 
street  to  cast  the  tea  overboard,  and  recite  the  stirring  verses  describing 
the  affair  at  the  time : 

As  near  beauteous  Boston  lying 

On  a  gently  swelling  flood, 
Without  jack  or  pennant  flying, 

Three  ill-fated  tea-ships  rode, 
Just  as  glorious  Sol  was  setting, 

On  the  wharf  a  numerous  crew, 
Sons  of  Freedom,  fear  forgetting, 

Suddenly  appeared  in  view. 

O'er  their  heads  in  lofty  mid-sky 

Three  bright  angels  there  were  seen; 
This  was  Hampden,  that  was  Sidney, 

And  fair  Liberty  between. 
Quick  as  thought,  without  delay, 

Axes,  hammers  were  displayed; 
Spades  and  shovels  in  array; 

What  a  glorious  crash  they  made ! 

But  our  hero  went  on  to  aid  Prescott  in  fortifying  his  hill,  and  Stark 
in  destroying  his  foemen  on  the  17th  of  June;  he  was  foremost  with  Sul- 
livan in  the  surprise  of  Trenton  that  dismal  December  night,  and  he  as- 
sisted at  the  capture  of  Princeton  and  the  defeat  of  Burgoyne.  Then  he 
left  New  Hampshire  for  the  new  settlements  in  the  Deerfield  valley,  rep- 


134  NEW     HAMPSHIRE     MEN     AT    THE     CONCORD     FIGHT. 

resented  Buckland  in  the  constitutional  convention  of  1788,  after  taking 
the  field  along  with  his  brother,  the  colonel,  to  put  down  Shays'  insur- 
rection; and,  when  the  hills  became  to  thick  with  farms  and  houses, 
migrated  to  Ohio  and  became  a  pioneer  in  that  great  state.  There  he 
served  under  General  Harrison  at  Tippecanoe,  and  might  perhaps  have 
put  in  a  claim  that  he,  and  not  Colonel  Johnson,  killed  Tecumseh.  The 
war  with  England  came  on  a  year  later,  and  Thompson  Maxwell  joined 
the  army  of  Cass  and  Hull  at  Detroit,  only  to  be  surrendered  in  that  un- 
lucky expedition.  Republics  are  proverbially  ungrateful,  and  he  was 
mobbed  in  Ohio  by  fellow-citizens  whose  rights  he  had  defended  before 
they  were  born,  because  he  was  unfortunate  enough  to  be  included  in 
Hull's  surrender.  When  exchanged  as  a  prisoner  he  joined  the  northern 
army  again,  and,  falling  in  with  a  more  fortunate  commander,  our  Peter- 
borough hero  Colonel  Miller,  Maxwell  fought  more  successfully  in 
Canada,  but  was  wounded  and  again  taken  prisoner  when  seventy-two 
years  old;  and  the  peace  of  Ghent  found  him  in  confinement  at  Quebec. 
Being  released  he  returned  to  the  military  service,  which  he  finally  left 
at  the  age  of  seventy-five,  receiving  a  captain's  pension  with  the  rank  of 
major.  If  any  of  the  Revolutionary  pensioners  had  a  more  extended 
record  I  have  not  heard  of  them. 

Meeting  the  other  day  in  Ohio  with  the  Historical  Society  of  that 
state,  I  sought  to  find  the  record  of  Thompson  Maxwell  there;  but  his 
memory  had  not  come  down  to  the  present  generation.  So  much  the 
more  need  that  we  should  perpetuate  it,  along  with  that  of  his  brother 
Hugh,  whose  grave-monument  I  have  read  on  the  green  hills  of  Heath. 
He,  too,  was  one  of  the  "  embattled  farmers,"  though  he  did  not  fight  at 
Concord.  While  I  am  on  this  subject,  I  may  as  well  correct  an  error  in 
date  for  the  singing  of  Emerson's  hymn  at  the  battle-ground  by  the 
Bridge,  which  the  poet  himself  never  corrected,  and  which  appears  in 
every  edition  of  his  poem  that  I  have  seen.  It  stands  printed  therein, 
"  Sung  at  the  Completion  of  the  Battle  Monument,  April  19,  1836,"  but 
it  was  not  really  sung  there  until  July  4,  1837,  and  for  the  sufficient  rea- 
son that  the  monument  was  not  completed  until  early  in  1837,  though  it 
had  been  intended  to  dedicate  it  at  the  date  given  by  Emerson,  and  doubt- 
less the  verses  were  written  before  April  19,  1836.  I  ascertained  this 
curious  fact  by  searching  through  the  local  newspaper,  the  Yeoman's 
Gazette,  of  April,  1836,  and  the  following  year,  to  find  an  account  of 
the  celebration,  and  the  earliest  printing  of  the  poem.  I  was  unable  to 
find  it  until  the  first  week  in  July,  1837,  when  a  brief  account  of  the  dedi- 


NEW     HAMPSHIRE     MEN     AT    THE     CONCORD     FIGHT.  1 35 

cation  was  printed,  with  a  copy  of  the  hymn.  I  had  learned  long  before 
that  the  Concord  choir  sang  it  to  the  tune  of  "  Old  Hundred,"  and  that 
Thoreau  was  one  of  the  singers,  he  being  then  a  senior  in  his  college  va- 
cation, unless  he  was  a  junior  passing  his  examinations  in  Italian  and 
Spanish.  The  poem  itself  has  become  almost  as  memorable  as  the  battle, 
and,  though  familiar,  I  may  well  recite  it  here.  No  New  Hampshire 
man  could  have  written  it  in  1836  or  earlier;  but  that  great  orator  from 
our  state,  Daniel  Webster,  could  have  given  its  equal  in  his  stately  prose. 

By  the  rude  bridge  that  arched  the  flood, 

Their  flag  to  April's  breeze  unfurled, 
Here  once  the  embattled  farmers  stood, 

And  fired  the  shot  heard  round  the  world. 

The  foe  long  since  in  silence  slept; 

Alike  the  conqueror  silent  sleeps; 
And  Time  the  ruined  bridge  has  swept 

Down  the  dark  stream  that  seaward  creeps. 

On  this  green  bank,  by  this  soft  stream, 

We  set  to-day  a  votive  stone; 
That  memory  may  their  deed  redeem, 

When,  like  our  sires,  our  sons  are  gone. 

Spirit!  that  made  those  heroes  dare 

To  die,  and  leave  their  children  free, 
Bid  Time  and  Nature  gently  spare 

The  shaft  we  raise  to  them  and  thee. 

This  simple  and  imperishable  tribute,  which  will  outlast  the  shaft 
and  defy  time,  because  it  conforms  to  nature,  is  known  to  all.  But  there 
is  another  poem  of  Emerson's,  less  known,  which  deals  no  less  grandly 
with  the  conflict  of  which  you  honor  the  memory  to-day.  It  was  written 
years  afterward  in  remembrance  of  his  eloquent  brother,  Edward  Emer- 
son, the  friend  and  disciple  of  Webster,  who  died  in  Porto  Rico  before 
the  Concord  monument  had  been  erected,  but  who  had  taken  part  in  the 
early  celebration  of  1825,  when  Lafayette  was  visiting  America,  and  who 
afterward  was  the  guest  of  Lafayette  at  his  French  chateau  of  La  Grange. 
Speaking  of  the  fight  at  the  bridge,  Emerson  wrote : 


I36  NEW     HAMPSHIRE     MEN     AT    THE     CONCORD     FIGHT. 

I  mourn  upon  this  battle-field, 

But  not  for  those  who  perished  here : 

Behold  the  river  bank 

Whither  the  angry  farmers  came, 

In  sloven  dress  and  broken  rank, 

Nor  thought  of  fame. 

Their  deed  of  blood  all  mankind  praise; 

Even  the  serene  Reason  says 

It  was  well  done. 

The  wise  and  simple  have  one  glance 

To  greet  yon  stern  headstone, 

Which  more  of  pride  than  pity  gave 

To  mark  the  Briton's  friendless  grave. 


Ah,  brother  of  the  brief  but  blazing  star! 
What  hast  thou  to  do  with  these, 
Haunting  this  bank's  historic  trees? 
Thou  born  for  noblest  life,  for  action's  field, 

for  victor's  car, — 
Thou  living  champion  of  the  right! 
To  these  their  penalty  belonged; 
I  grudge  not  these  their  bed  of  death, — 
But  thine  to  thee,  who  never  wronged 
The  poorest  that  drew  breath. 


What  matters  how,  or  from  what  ground 

The  freed  soul  its  Creator  found? 

Alike  thy  memory  embalms 

That  orange  grove,  that  isle  of  palms, 

And  these  loved  banks,  whose  oak-boughs  bold 

Root  in  the  blood  of  heroes  old. 

Here  is  asserted  the  imperishable  truth  upon  which  the  honor  of 
the  slain  soldier  is  founded;  he  must  have  been  a  living  champion  of  the 
right;  if  he  was  not,  we  must  say  of  him  and  his  comrades, 


NEW     HAMPSHIRE     MEN     AT    THE     CONCORD     FIGHT.  1 37 

To  these  their  penalty  belonged, 
I  grudge  not  these  their  bed  of  death. 

It  is  not  given  to  every  man  to  say  that 

He  never  wronged 

The  poorest  that  drew  breath. 

But  it  is  allowed  to  all  of  us  to  put  ourselves  on  the  side  of  the  poor,  the 
weak,  the  oppressed,  and  the  invaded;  and  he  who  fights  and  dies  for 
their  cause  is  the  man  whose  memory  is  honored  so  long  as  his  name  is 
remembered.  The  men  of  New  Hamphsire  who  rushed  to  repel  the 
British  invader,  whether  at  Concord,  at  Bunker  Hill,  at  Bennington,  or 
at  New  Orleans,  had  this  good  cause  for  their  justification;  and  though 
we  may  not  learn  all  their  names,  we  give  them  all,  the  known  and  the 
unknown,  the  praise  that  righteous  valor  deserves.  Unhappy  indeed  is 
the  soldier  who  goes,  willing  or  unwilling,  to  fight  against  the  defender 
of  his  home  and  his  country,  who  exacts  the  penalty  of  death  for  what  he 
knows  to  be  in  itself  a  virtue.  Such  was  the  misfortune  of  the  English- 
men who  fell  at  Lexington  and  Concord,  and  in  the  dreadful  slaughter 
wrought  by  Stark  at  Bunker  Hill;  such  must  be  the  misfortune  of  all  who 
take  the  sword  or  perish  by  the  sword  in  any  but  a  righteous  cause. 

F.  B.  Sanborn. 

Concord,  Mass. 


THE  ANTI-RENT  WAR  OF  DUTCHESS  COUNTY,  N.  Y. 

WHILE  the  "  Anti-rent  War  "  of  1840-45  in  New  York  is  a  mat- 
ter of  history,  the  fact  that  a  similar  though  only  local  outbreak 
occurred  in  1766,  is  hardly  known  outside  of  Dutchess  County. 
It  arose  from  the  same  cause — the  feudal  tenure  of  vast  tracts  of  land  in 
the  hands  of  a  few  wealthy  proprietors  who  would  rent,  but  not  sell;  and 
:he  seed  sown  by  William  Prendergast  was  destined  to  bear  fruit  three- 
quarters  of  a  century  later. 

We  believe  this  is  the  first  time  the  story  has  been  told  in  detail. 

Twenty-five  years  ago,  before  the  older  Quakers  on  Quaker  Hill  * 
had  so  largely  passed  away,  a  lad  trained  in  the  traditions  of  Indian  wars 
and  revolutionary  days  from  a  New  England  ancestry,  found  himself  on 
Quaker  Hill.  The  quiet  annals  of  the  Quakers  did  not  appeal  to  him,  but 
the  revolutionary  memories  of  the  Hill  did.  Before  long  his  Puritan 
scent  for  combat  had  taken  up  the  trail  of  the  Prendergast  revolt.  Here 
was  a  little  war  of  which  he  had  never  before  heard.  He  felt  all  the  joy 
of  a  discoverer;  and  he  began  trying  to  trace  the  tradition,  but  with 
little  success.  Finally  he  was  referred  to  one  of  the  beautiful  older 
Quaker  women  then  on  the  Hill. 

"  I  do  not  know  the  story  well,"  she  replied  to  his  inquiries,  "  and 
I  do  not  think  thee  will  find  many  who  do.  The  Prendergast  family 
moved  west  long  ago,  and  thee  knows  Friends  are  not  fond  of  keeping 
memory  of  wars  and  fightings,  so  I  fear  that  not  much  tradition  is  left 
about  it.  There  is  a  little  printed,  but  thee  will  not  find  the  full  story 
anywhere.  And  thee  will  find  almost  as  little  in  the  minds  of  the  people 
about  here.  I  know,  because  I  have  always  been  attracted  by  that  story 
of  Mehitabl'e  Wing.  When  only  a  girl  I  got  some  inkling  of  it,  and  be- 
gan to  inquire  about  the  story.  It  fascinated  me.  But  very  soon  my 
father  noticed  that  I  was  asking  about  it.  I  still  remember  his  rebuke. 
'  Daughter,'  he  said,  '  if  thee  wants  to  inquire  into  the  past  thee  can  find 
something  more  profitable  than  wars  and  rumors  of  wars.'  So  after  that 
I  was  less  urgent  in  my  inquiries;  perhaps  because  of  what  my  father 
said;  but  perhaps  partly  because  I  found  that  inquiries  were  of  little  avail. 
But  the  figure  of  Mehitable  Wing  still  continued  to  haunt  my  fancy,  and 

*  Near  Pawling,  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y. 
138 


THE   ANTI-RENT   WAR   OF    DUTCHESS    COUNTY,    N.    Y.  1 39 

has  all  these  years.  The  Friends  don't  like  to  acknowledge  it,  but  often 
we  have  a  good  deal  of  fighting  blood  in  us  after  all.  I  suppose  it  is 
what  the  world's  people  call  heredity,  and  it  is  the  same  thing  our  people 
call  the  Old  Adam.  Does  thee  remember  the  Quaker  in  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin,  who  helped  George  and  Eliza  to  escape,  who  was  so  anxious  that 
the  fugitives  should  have  their  pistols  in  good  condition,  and  who  prayed 
that  he  himself  might  not  be  tempted  to  shoot,  but  if  he  was  tempted 
too  much — why  let  them  look  out?  That  is  the  fighting  blood  of  the 
Quaker,  and  I  think  thee  will  admit  that  just  a  little  of  it  is  a  good  thing. 
Anyway,  I  have  always  thought  so;  and  I  could  never  make  it  seem  wrong 
to  rejoice  in  the  memory  of  Mehitable  Wing.  Once  when  I  was  a  girl',  1 
had  occasion  to  pass  the  house  where  it  is  said  she  lived  at  the  time  of  the 
battle.  I  was  riding  alone.  It  was  just  after  dusk,  and  I  slipped  off  the 
horse  and  sat  down  on  the  bank  and  stayed  there  as  long  as  I  dared.  I 
went  over  it  all  in  my  mind — how  she  must  have  felt  in  those  days  when 
William  was  preparing  for  the  conflict  and  then  how  the  day  of  the  battle 
must  have  been  a  day  of  strain.  I  think  I  know  how  she  felt.  She  must 
have  been  in  favor  of  his  going  on  with  his  plans  of  resistance.  No  man, 
even  if  he  did  have  such  a  long  name  as  Prendergast,  could  have  done 
what  he  did  under  the  disapproval  of  a  wife  like  Mehitable.  People 
need  not  think  that  Quaker  women  are  meek  little  things.  No,  indeed! 
Especially  not  when  we  are  built  like  Mehitable.  I  am  afraid  that  was 
why  I  liked  her.  Thee  knows  that  they  say  William  was  Irish.  I  have 
always  thought  that  the  persistence  of  Quaker  passive  resistance  and  the 
fire  of  the  Irish  temperament  would  make  a  very  explosive  compound, 
There  is  no  doubt  in  my  mind  that  William  took  his  musket  with  at  least 
the  quiet  encouragement  of  his  wife.  But,  all  the  same,  those  days  between 
the  plan  to  resist  and  the  capture  of  William  must  have  been  very  sad 
days.  Thee  knows  that  women  stay  behind  and  do  a  great  deal  of  quiet 
thinking  while  men  go  out  and  blunder  around  without  always  having 
thought  very  much  anyway.  Many  a  time  Mehitable  must  have  had  mis- 
givings about  the  way  things  would  turn  out.  Thee  knows  how  to  this 
day,  good  republicans  though  we  all  are,  there  is  a  sort  of  solemnity  about 
the  phrase,  '  The  King's  troops.'  It  must  have  been  still  more  so  then. 
And  I  can't  but  think  that  the  words  of  the  Master,  '  Resist  not  evil ' 
with  all  the  emphasis  that  had  so  often  been  laid  on  them  at  the  meeting- 
house, must  have  often  and  often  come  to  her  mind  in  those  lonely  days. 
Not  that  they  were  idle  days — there  were  the  cows  and  the  horses  to  take 
care  of,  and  all  the  farm  work  as  well  as  the  house  work  to  attend  to. 


140  THE    ANTI-RENT   WAR   OF    DUTCHESS    COUNTY,   .N.    Y. 

And  after  that  was  done,  she  went  to  spinning  with  more  vigor  than  ever. 
Such  a  women  as  that  could  not  be  idle.  Besides,  if — that  great  if.  I 
don't  think  she  ever  finished  the  sentence,  only  she  spun  faster,  for  it 
might  be  she  would  soon  stand  in  sore  need  of  money  from  all  the  yarn  she 
could  sell.  Then — hark — there  was  a  hoof-beat.  Was  it  news?  And 
out  she  went,  bareheaded,  to  stand  at  the  roadside  and  question  the 
passer-by.  Had  he  heard  anything  of  the  company?  One  man  had  seen 
them.  '  And  they  looked  fine,  too,'  he  added.  '  They  was  a  marchin' 
north,  and  they  all  had  good  horses  and  guns.  There  was  about  fifty  of 
'em  a-goin'  along  a-singin',  and  there  is  more  to  jine.  There  ain't  no 
British  troops  will  stand  afore  them  fellers.'  But  the  messengers  were 
not  always  so  enthusiastic.  One  said  that  ten  men  from  up  north  had 
sneaked  out  and  gone  home  again.  Another  reported  that  the  big 
1  renters,'  upon  whom  they  had  relied,  would  have  nothing  to  do  with 
them.  That  was  a  heavy  blow,  and  it  was  a  very  sad  heart  that  Mehitable 
took  back  to  her  spinning.  From  that  time  on  she  had  a  presentiment  of 
evil.  And  so  she  gathered  up  the  reports,  one  after  the  other,  and  wove 
their  conflicting  statements  together  as  best  she  could.  It  did  not  seem  to 
her  to  be  going  right.  By  and  by,  when  she  went  out  at  the  sound  of  still 
another  hoof-beat,  she  found  it  was  an  old  neighbor  from  Quaker  Hill. 
And  when  she  asked  him,  he  only  looked  solemnly  at  her  and  said  sternly, 
'  Mehitable,  thee  is  beginning  to  see  the  fruits  of  thy  sowing  when  thee 
married  out  of  meeting.  Only  beginning  to  see,  Mehitable.  Those  that 
take  the  sword  shall  perish  by  the  sword,'  and  he  went  on.  Mehitable 
fled  back  into  the  house,  and  burst  into  a  passion  of  tears.  The  old 
Quaker  had  echoed  the  voice  of  her  own  conscience.  She  felt  as  though 
God  and  man  had  both  forsaken  her.  But  soon  she  dried  her  tears, 
though  her  heart  was  not  the  less  heavy.  Here  was  all  the  work  to  do, 
and  other  messengers  might  ride  past  at  any  time.  Soon  she  began  to 
hear  reports  of  the  British  troops.  One  boy,  riding  rapidly,  with  big 
eyes  and  excited  manner,  said  that  the  troops  and  William's  band  were 
already  fighting.    He  had  heard  the  reports  of  guns  off  to  the  west  of  him. 

"  Oh,  I  thought  it  all  out  as  I  sat  there  on  the  bank.  Girl-fashion, 
I  was  completely  carried  away  with  it.  I  had  brought  it,  in  my  fancy,  to 
William's  capture,  and  was  living  through  it  so  thoroughly  that  it  was 
a  relief  to  my  emotions  when  my  horse  moved  and  called  me  back  to 
myself. 

"  Well,  that  evening  only  made  my  fancy  stronger.  Thee  knows 
that  we  Quaker  young  people  did  not  have  fiction  as  young  people  do 


THE    ANTI-RENT   WAR    OF    DUTCHESS    COUNTY,    ,N.    Y.  I4I 

now.  We  had  to  make  our  own  fiction.  I  was  quite  grown  up  before  I 
ceased  to  always  have  a  story  in  my  mind.  I  called  it  my  story,  and  I 
carried  it  along  in  my  head  day  after  day,  or,  more  properly,  night  after 
night.  I  used  to  think  myself  to  sleep  about  it.  Sometimes  a  story  lasted 
me  for  months,  and  then  I  would  lay  it  aside  for  another.  I  suppose  that 
is  what  people  called  day-dreaming.  The  story  of  Mehitable  always  came 
back  to  me,  when  others  failed,  like  the  continued  stories  in  the  monthly 
magazines  now.  And  especially  that  trip  she  made  to  New  York  to  see 
the  Governor.  I  used  to  lie  awake  at  night  and  go  over  that  trip  with 
her  again  and  again.  I  could  fairly  hear  the  footfalls  of  her  horse  upon 
the  road.  I  think  I  have  been  over  every  inch  of  the  ground  with  her, 
from  the  time  she  shut  the  door  of  the  house  till  she  got  back  with  the 
Governor's  reprieve  in  her  pocket.  Sometimes  the  weather  would  be 
pleasant  when  I  went  with  her,  fine  fall  days,  with  the  colored  maple 
leaves  dropping  on  her  as  she  rode  under  the  trees.  Sometimes  it  was 
stormy  and  the  rain  beat  her  in  the  face.  Then — it  is  funny  how  a  comic 
element  will  intrude  itself  into  the  midst  of  the  most  serious  things — then 
I  always  had  a  vivid  sense  of  her  anxiety  not  to  get  those  clothes  she 
had  borrowed  from  her  sister  all  spotted  with  mud.  I  used  to  find  myself 
actually  tired  out  trying  to  get  that  borrowed  dress  all  tucked  up  out  of 
the  wet.  Some  corner  of  it  always  would  get  blown  out  and  spattered 
with  mud.  Sometimes  I  would  really  cry  with  vexation.  If  Mehitable 
had  only  thought  far  enough  to  wear  her  big  kitchen  apron  over  her  dress, 
it  would  have  been  all  right.  But  I  was  sure  she  didn't !  I  knew  she 
didn't,  and  that  best  dress  of  her  sister's  would  get  all  wet  and  muddy. 
And  then  the  straits  she  went  through  before  she  could  get  to  see  the 
Governor !  I  fancied  all  sorts  of  ways  of  getting  her  into  his  presence. 
Sometimes  she  rode  up  to  his  residence  and  the  dignity  of  her  bearing 
overcame  the  soldiers — I  always  placed  a  guard  of  soldiers  at  the  gate — 
and  she  was  ushered  straight  into  his  presence.  But  the  next  time  I  went 
over  it,  like  enough  it  would  be  totally  different.  I  think  I  had  some 
sense  of  humor  as  a  girl,  and  if  I  brought  her  to  the  Governor's  door  in 
a  storm,  all  bedraggled  and  wet,  and  then  tried  to  take  her  into  his  pres- 
ence with  a  great  deal  of  dignity,  it  would  seem  so  incongruous  that  I 
would  just  laugh  out  loud.  And  yet  I  never  could  make  Mehitable  go 
down  on  her  knees  and  cry  and  '  take  on  '  just  like  a  common  woman. 
She  wouldn't  do  it  for  me.  If  she  had,  I  could  have  aroused  the  Gov- 
ernor's pity  for  a  poor,  miserable  woman;  but  she  wouldn't.  I  just  knew 
that  Mehitable  Wing  never  got  down  on  her  knees  to  any  human  being. 
And  when  she  landed  at  the  Governor's  in  a  storm,  the  trouble  I  had  to 


I42  THE    ANTI-RENT   WAR   OF    DUTCHESS    COUNTY,    N.    Y. 

get  her  into  his  presence  properly  used  to  keep  me  awake  nights.  I  never 
wrote  a  story.  I  never  dreamed  of  doing  such  a  thing;  but  I  think  I 
know  all  about  the  troubles  of  a  story-writer,  and  how  he  has  to  work 
to  make  things  fit  in. 

"  But  after  the  reprieve  had  once  been  won,  the  next  was  easy.  It 
was  a  very  jubilant  woman  that  came  back  up  the  roads,  hurrying  her 
horse  in  the  joy  of  her  journey.  It  was  always  pleasant  weather  then, 
and  hour  after  hour  she  rode  through  the  glorious  autumn  fields  and 
forests.  Now  and  then  she  would  break  into  speech.  '  Praise  ye  the 
Lord  '  she  said,  '  Praise  him  in  the  highest.'  Thee  knows  we  Quakers 
have  no  music,  but  I  think  Mehitable's  horse-hoofs  made  as  good  music 
on  the  road  as  any  one  could  ever  wish  to  hear. 

"  But  when  she  had  herself  taken  the  reprieve  to  Poughkeepsie,  and 
had  seen  William  and  got  back  home  again,  then  she  took  up  the  burden 
that  she  had  been  putting  off  all  this  time.  The  reprieve  was  not  sufficient, 
it  was  only  the  first  step.  It  only  held  the  execution  till  a  petition  had  been 
laid  before  the  King.  The  Governor  had  been  very  explicit  in  urging  that 
no  delay  should  be  made  in  sending  the  petition.  '  The  King  objects  to 
feeding  dead  men,'  he  had  said.  And  so  there  was  the  petition  to  be  made. 
She  had  scarcely  left  her  husband's  presence  before  she  began  to  frame 
it  in  her  mind.  Some  women  might  have  gone  to  a  lawyer,  but  I  know 
Mehitable  Wing  did  not.  This  was  her  own  matter,  and  she  would  carry 
it  through  herself.  She  would  get  the  best  penman  of  the  county  to 
engross  the  petition,  but  she  would  first  write  it  with  her  own  pen. 

"  The  first  night  at  home,  after  she  had  herself  seen  that  the  cattle  and 
the  pigs  and  the  poultry  had  not  suffered  while  she  was  gone,  and  after 
the  candles  were  lit,  she  got  her  goose  quills,  made  a  new  pen,  and  sat 
down  to  write.  Now  writing,  thee  knows,  was  not  so  common  a  practice 
in  those  days,  and  not  to  be  undertaken  without  serious  thought.  People 
sat  down  to  pen  and  paper  almost  as  reverently  as  they  sat  in  the  meeting- 
house. She  unfolded  the  big  sheet  of  paper  she  had  brought  from  New 
York,  dipped  her  goose-quill  into  the  ink,  and  began  with  firm  strokes, 
1  Fredericksburg.'  Then  the  date.  Then  the  formula  of  opening,  which 
she  copied  from  provincial  petitions  that  she  had  seen: 

"  '  To  his  Majesty,  the  King:  ' 

"  '  Your  humble  petitioner  showeth,' 

"  The  next  few  words  were  easy:  '  that  her  husband,  your  Majesty's 


THE   ANTI-RENT   WAR   OF    DUTCHESS    COUNTY,    .N.    Y.  1 43 

most  loyal  subject,  William  Prendergast,'  and  then  she  came  to  a  pause. 
How  could  she  tell  the  whole  story  on  paper?  How  could  she  put  in 
proper  form  that  her  William  and  the  other  farmers  had  been  unjustly 
treated;  that  anyway  it  was  not  William  that  had  been  really  to  blame, 
but  that  scamp  who  had  absconded  and  who  ought  to  be  in  William's 
place  to-day?  If  she  could  only  go  to  the  King  and  talk  it  out!  Her 
tongue  had  never  failed  her  yet,  and  she  didn't  believe  it  would  before  the 
King  himself.  But  to  write  it  for  the  King  to  sit  down  and  read — for  it 
never  occurred  to  her  but  that  the  King  would  himself  read  it — that  was 
another  matter. 

"  The  trouble  I  had  with  that  petition !  I  never  got  it  written. 
Night  after  night  Mehitable  came  back  to  it,  and  she  and  I  struggled 
along  somehow,  but  we  never  got  through;  which  shows  that  I  wasn't 
any  help  to  her,  for  thee  knows  that  she  did  write  the  petition,  and  all 
the  neighbors  signed  it,  and  the  great  men  of  the  county  too,  and  it 
went  across  the  water  to  the  King,  and  the  answer  came  back — '  Of  his 
gracious  mercy,  his  Majesty,  the  King,  pardoneth  William  Prendergast, 
yeoman.' 

"  Well,  I  am  afraid  thee  won't  be  interested  in  an  old  woman's 
fancies.  It  has  been  years  since  I  have  thought  very  much  of  Mehitable. 
But  really,  I  don't  know  that  there  is  any  more  interesting  story  in  this 
whole  region  than  hers.  I  wish  some  of  the  great  writers  would  put  it 
into  a  form  that  is  worthy  of  it.  When  thee  gets  older,  my  boy,  thee 
must  write  it  out." 

When,  twenty-five  years  later,  the  boy  did  write  it  out,  he  could  find 
no  more  fitting  form  in  which  to  tell  it  than  the  beautiful'  old  Quaker 
lady's  tale  of  the  day  dreams  of  her  girlhood. 

Irving  F.  Wood. 

Smith  College,  Northampton,  Mass. 

Note. — The  disappointment  of  his  failure,  and  the  stigma  of  a  sentence  to  death  seem 
to  have  weighed  on  William  Prendergast;  and  he,  with  all  his  family,  emigrated  westward; 
traveling  with  thirty  horses  and  seventeen  vehicles,  first  northward,  then  southward,  and 
finally,  after  visiting  several  States,  to  their  permanent  residence  on  the  shore  of  Chautauqua 
Lake.  There  and  in  nearby  towns  their  descendants  have  been  of  great  influence.  James, 
son  of  William,  was  the  founder  of  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  and  the  Prendergast  Library  com- 
memorates his  branch  of  the  family,  now  represented  by  no  living  member.  (William  Pren- 
dergast was  born  in  Waterford,  Ireland,  1727;  married  Mehitable  Wing,  of  Beekman, 
N.  Y. ;  settled  in  Chautauqua,  where  he  died,  1811. — Centennial  History  of  Chautauqua  County, 
1904.) 


KENTUCKY    COUNTY    NAMES 

KENTUCKY  was  organized  as  a  county  of  Virginia  in  the  au- 
tumn of  1776,  the  year  following  the  first  permanent  settlement 
within  her  borders.  The  two  leading  settlements,  Boonesbor- 
ough  and  Harrodsburg,  founded  about  the  same  time  (1775),  were,  in 
a  measure,  representative  of  two  rival  and  antagonistic  forces;  the  North 
Carolina,  or  Transylvania,  and  the  Virginia  faction  each  eager  to  dom- 
inate in  this  new  tramontary  world. 

We  cannot  here  enter  upon  the  romantic  story  of  Richard  Hender- 
son and  his  North  Carolina  company,  and  their  efforts  to  establish  the 
new  and  independent  colony  of  "  Transylvania  "  west  of  the  Alleghanies; 
that  story  is  part  of  that  border-land  dream  of  an  independent  nation 
west  of  the  mountains,  which  flitted  through  so  many  daring  heads  in 
those  early  days,  and  took  definite  form  in  such  political  creations  as 
Azalia,  Transylvania,  and  Aaron  Burr's  wild  phantasm  of  a  Mississippi 
empire  with  its  capital  at  New  Orleans,  his  accomplished  daughter  Theo- 
dosia  as  its  queen,  and  himself  as  its  regent. 

Boonesborough  was  the  center  of  the  Transylvania,  or  Henderson, 
faction;  and  Harrodsburg  of  the  Virginia  settlers.  With  the  erection 
of  "  Kentucky"  County  in  1776,  Harrodsburg  became  the  county  site; 
and  the  death  blow  was  dealt  to  Henderson's  Transylvania  dream. 
Harrodsburg  began  to  assume  political  importance  in  the  Colony,  while 
Boonesborough  never  rose  from  its  rank  as  a  mere  village  and  a  fort  for 
repelling  hostile  savages. 

In  1780  Kentucky  County  disappeared  from  the  map,  having  been 
divided  in  that  year  into  the  three  counties :  Jefferson,  Fayette  and  Lin- 
coln, named  in  honor  of  Revolutionary  heroes,  whose  respective  stories 
need  not  be  told. 

Nelson,  Kentucky's  fourth  county,  was  created  by  the  Virginia  legis- 
lature in  1784,  and  named  in  honor  of  Thomas  Nelson,  a  former  gov- 
ernor of  Virginia,  and  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. 

1785    witnessed  the   formation   of   three  new   counties:     Bourbon, 

144 


KENTUCKY     COUNTY     NAMES.  1 45 

named  for  the  reigning  dynasty  of  France;  Mercer,  in  memoriam  to  the 
patriot  general  who  fell  at  Princeton,  and  Madison,  named  for  the  future 
President,  but  who  was  then  prominent  in  the  councils  of  the  new  and 
struggling  nation. 

Mason  and  Woodford  counties  were  formed  in  1788,  and  named, 
the  former  in  honor  of  George  Mason,  the  distinguished  Virginia  states- 
man, the  compeer  of  Jefferson  and  Henry;  the  latter  in  memory  of  Gen. 
William  Woodford,  of  the  Revolutionary  Army,  who  was  wounded  at 
the  battle  of  Brandywine;  was  captured  at  Charleston  in  1780,  and  died 
in  prison. 

1792,  the  year  of  Kentucky's  admission  to  the  Union,  saw  also  seven 
new  counties  carved  out  of  her  territory.  Of  these  seven  additions  to  the 
family  of  counties,  five  were  christened  with  the  names  of  great  actors  in 
the  Revolutionary  drama,  George  Washington,  Charles  Scott,  Isaac 
Shelby,  George  Rogers  Clark,  and  Nathaniel  Greene,  whose  histories 
need  not  be  rcounted  to  students  of  American  annals.  The  other  two, 
Cols.  Benjamin  Logan  and  John  Hardin,  were  not  less  well  known  to 
the  pioneer  records  of  the  "  Dark  and  Bloody  Ground."  Benjamin  Lo- 
gan, a  farmer  on  the  Holston,  had  been  captivated  by  the  stories  of  the 
rich  cane  lands.  He  migrated  to  the  new  Canaan,  built  a  fort  near  the 
site  of  the  present  town  of  Stanford,  and  was  thenceforward  a  leading 
figure  in  the  State's  military  and  political  history.  Colonel  John  Hardin 
was  one  of  the  best  specimens  of  the  border  clansmen  that  even  Kentucky 
has  ever  produced.  It  is  said  that  he  was  in  every  expedition  save  one 
made  by  the  pioneers  against  the  hostiles,  and  he  was  accounted  the  most 
skillful  of  hunters  in  a  land  where  all  were  hunters.  He  was  at  last  mur- 
dered by  the  Ohio  Indians  to  whom  he  had  been  sent  on  a  mission  of 
peace. 

The  seven  counties  just  named  were  the  first  created  by  a  Kentucky 
legislature.  The  nine  older  counties  were  all  the  legislative  offspring  of 
the  "  Old  Dominion."  We  are  surprised  that  the  "  Mother  of  Presi- 
dents "  had  not  attached  the  name  of  her  greatest  son — the  Father  of 
his  country — to  one  of  the  new  counties  of  this  paradise  of  the  West. 
She  had  bestowed  on  these  the  names  of  men  much  less  known,  none  of 
whom  had  ever  dwelt  in  the  new  commonwealth  or  had  been  identified 
with  her  interests.  We  may  justly  suspect  the  existence  of  some  feeling 
of  jealousy  in  his  native  State  toward  the  greatest  of  all  her  sons.  It 
remained  for  the  new  commonwealth  to  repair  the  slight  thus  put  upon 


I46  KENTUCKY     COUNTY     NAMES. 

the  great  patriot,  by  affixing  his  name  to  the  first  county  formed  by  her 
legislature. 

Harrison,  the  seventeenth  county,  was  formed  in  1793,  and  named 
in  honor  of  Benjamin  Harrison,  a  citizen  of  Bourbon  County,  and  the 
least  prominent  of  all  those  who  had  yet  been  honored  with  county  name- 
sakes. 

In  1794  the  county  roll  was  lengthened  by  the  addition  of  two  new 
members:  Franklin  and  Campbell.  The  former  was  of  course  called 
from  the  name  of  the  great  statesman-philosopher;  the  latter  was  named 
for  Colonel  John  Campbell — a  somewhat  prominent  citizen  of  Jefferson 
County. 

Bullitt,  Christian,  Montgomery,  Bracken,  Warren,  Garrard  were 
the  six  counties  created  by  the  legislature  of  1796.  Two  of  these,  Mont- 
gomery and  Warren,  were  called  for  the  two  distinguished  Revolutionary 
generals,  Richard  Montgomery  and  Joseph  Warren,  both  of  them  early 
martyrs  to  the  cause  of  Liberty.  Hon.  James  Garrard,  at  that  time 
(1769)  governor  of  the  State,  was  honored  in  the  naming  of  one  of  the 
counties,  and  a  like  tribute  was  bestowed  upon  Alexander  Scott  Bullitt, 
the  first  speaker  (1792)  of  the  Kentucky  Senate,  and  later  the  first 
lieutenant-governor.  Bracken  County  received  its  name  from  two  creeks 
— Big  and  Little  Bracken — which  water  the  county,  and  these  in  turn 
were  called  from  the  old  pioneer,  William  Bracken,  an  early  settler  in 
the  county,  who  was  killed  by  the  Indians,  A  like  death  befell  (1786) 
Colonel  William  Christian,  for  whom  Christian  County  was  called.  He 
had  been  present  at  Braddock's  Defeat,  and  had  served  gallantly  through 
the  Revolution  as  a  colonel  of  the  Virginia  line.  He  emigrated  to  Ken- 
tucky in  1785,  the  year  before  his  death. 

1798  was  the  most  prolific  year  in  county-making  of  Kentucky's 
history,  for  thirteen  of  these  sub-commonwealths  came  into  being  during 
this  year.  Several  of  the  new  county  names  were  heirlooms  from  our 
Revolutionary  history — names  familiar  to  all  intelligent  readers,  viz. : 
Pulaski,  Livingston  (Robert  R.),  Henry  (Patrick),  Gallatin  (Albert), 
Muhlenberg  (Gen.  Peter), — while  Edmund  Pendleton  a  prominent  Vir- 
ginia jurist  of  that  era,  was  also  honored  with  one  of  these  county  names. 
Fleming  County  received  its  appellation  from  Colonel  John  Fleming,  its 
most  prominent  pioneer  settler,  who  died  at  Fleming's  Station  in  1794. 

Two  of  the  new  counties — Cumberland  and  Ohio — received  names 


KENTUCKY     COUNTY     NAMES.  1 47 

from  the  two  great  rivers  which  drain  most  of  the  State's  area;  and  the 
latter  (Ohio)  is  the  only  Indian  name  preserved  by  Kentucky's  counties; 
while  Jessamine  is  the  only  county  named  in  honor  of  a  woman.  Jessa- 
mine Douglass  was  the  beautiful  daughter  of  an  early  (Scotch)  settler. 
One  day  while  sitting,  all  unconscious  of  danger,  upon  a  rock  overhanging 
a  stream  near  her  home,  a  savage  stealthily  approached  from  behind  and 
buried  his  tomahawk  in  her  head.  The  stream  was  named  "  Jessamine  " 
for  her  and  later,  the  new  county  received  the  same  appelation.  Barren 
County  received  its  designation  from  the  "  barrens,"  or  treeless  plains, 
which  in  the  State's  pioneer  days,  embraced  a  wide  area  of  its  surface. 
The  remaining  two  counties — Boone  and  Henderson — commemorate  the 
names  of  the  great  pioneer,  Daniel  Boone,  and  of  the  hardly  less  famous 
Richard  Henderson,  founder  of  that  dream  republic  "  Transylvania," 
whose  short-lived  capital  was  Boonesboro,  the  namesake  of  the  old 
pioneer. 

It  seems  to  us  strange  that  the  Blue  Grass  commonwealth  should 
have  been  so  tardy  in  recognizing  her  debt  to  her  greatest  pioneer,  for 
"Boone"  was  the  thirtieth  on  the  roll  of  her  counties;  and  before  its 
formation  the  old  hero  had  left  the  State  never  to  return,  and  was  a 
wanderer  on  the  banks  of  the  Missouri,  and  a  subject  of  the  King  of 
Spain. 

It  seems  probable  that  the  Virginia  jealousy  of  old  Transylvania 
and  of  Henderson,  Boone,  and  other  "  promoters  "  of  that  visionary 
State,  may  have  had  much  to  do  with  the  injustice  which  finally  drove 
Boone  from  the  beautiful  "  Cane  Land  "  of  his  early  love. 

Breckenridge,  Floyd,  Knox,  and  Nicholas  were  the  legislative 
product  of  1799.  One  of  these  counties — Knox — was  in  honor  of  Gen- 
eral Henry  Knox,  Washington's  great  compeer  in  the  Revolutionary 
army.  Floyd  bears  the  name  of  Colonel  John  Floyd,  founder  of  Floyd's 
Station,  near  the  Falls  of  the  Ohio,  and  later  a  victim  of  Indian  assassina- 
tion. Colonel  George  Nicholas,  a  gallant  patriot  of  the  War  of  Inde- 
pendence, who  came  to  Kentucky  from  Virginia  in  1788,  and  was  regarded 
as  the  leading  jurist  of  the  new  commonwealth  at  the  time  of  his  death 
(1799),  left  his  name  to  another  of  these  new  counties;  while  his  compeer, 
John  Breckenridge,  the  first  of  that  prominent  family  in  the  State,  and  at 
this  period  specially  prominent  as  the  promoter  and  author  of  the  famous 
"  Kentucky-Virginia  Resolutions,"  left  his  name  also  to  another  of  the 
new  county  creations. 


I48  KENTUCKY  COUNTY  NAMES. 

Wayne  County,  bearing  its  name  from  "  Mad  Anthony,"  was  the 
only  county  formed  during  the  first  year  of  the  new  century,  as  Adair 
was  the  only  county  marked  out  in  1801.  General  John  Adair  (b.  1757; 
d.  1840)  was  a  South  Carolinian  who  came  to  Kentucky  in  1787,  and 
was  thenceforward  an  active  participant  in  the  wars  and  politics  of  the 
West.  He  commanded  the  Kentucky  troops  at  New  Orleans  (1814-15), 
and  was  elected  governor  in  1820. 

Greenup  County,  formed  in  1803,  was  another  Kentucky  tribute  to 
her  Virginia  ancestry;  for  Christopher  Greenup,  a  patriot  of  the  Revo- 
lution, who  migrated  to  Kentucky  directly  after  the  war  and  became 
governor  in  1804,  was  honored  in  the  naming  of  the  forty-fifth  county. 

The  legislature  in  1806  added  four  to  the  county  offspring:  Casey, 
named  from  the  pioneer,  Colonel  William  Casey,  who  came  from  Vir- 
ginia to  Kentucky  about  1780,  and  established  a  fort  in  the  Green  River 
country;  Clay,  in  honor  of  General  Green  Clay,  also  a  Virginia  Ken- 
tuckian,  prominent  in  the  war  of  18 12;  Lewis,  in  honor  of  the  great 
explorer  of  the  West,  Meriwether  Lewis,  who  with  Clark  penetrated 
the  continent  to  the  Pacific  in  1803-6;  and  Hopkins,  named  for  General 
Samuel  Hopkins,  a  Virginia  officer  of  the  Revolutionary  army,  who  came 
to  Kentucky  in  1797,  settled  on  Green  River,  and  was  thereafter  prom- 
inently identified  with  the  State's  military  and  political  history. 

Estill  County  was  named  in  1808  for  Captain  James  Estill,  a  pioneer 
who  commanded  the  Kentuckians  in  the  sanguinary  battle  of  Little  Moun- 
tain (1782),  near  the  present  Mt.  Sterling,  in  which  both  whites  and 
Indians  were  nearly  exterminated. 

Caldwell  County  (1809)  was  named  for  General  John  Caldwell, 
who  came  to  Kentucky  in  1781,  settled  near  Danville,  became  lieutenant- 
governor  in  1804,  but  died  shortly  after  his  inauguration. 

Rockcastle,  Butler,  Grayson,  the  triplet  birth  of  18 10,  received  their 
christening:  the  first  from  the  Rockcastle  River,  whose  name  was  sug- 
gested by  its  giant  palisades  and  boulders  of  rocks;  the  second,  from  Gen- 
eral Richard  Butler,  a  gallant  Revolutionary  officer,  who  fell  in  St.  Clair's 
defeat  (1781)  ;  and  the  third,  in  honor  of  Colonel  William  Grayson,  a 
Virginia  politician  and  statesman. 

Union  and  Bath  Counties  were  organized  in  181 1;  the  former  is 
supposed  to  have  been  named  from  the  unanimity  of  its  people  for  sepa- 


KENTUCKY     COUNTY     NAMES.  149 

ration  from  the  mother  county,  Henderson,  while  the  latter  received  its 
name  from  the  number  of  mineral  springs  within  its  borders. 

Allen  and  Daviess,  Kentucky's  twin  offspring  for  18 15,  were  called 
for  the  two  talented  patriot  lawyers,  Colonel  John  Allen,  who  fell  with 
nearly  half  of  his  regiment  at  the  disastrous  battle  of  the  River  Raisin; 
and  Colonel  Joseph  Hamilton  Daviess,  the  prosecutor  of  Aaron  Burr, 
who  fell  at  Tippecanoe.  Friends  in  life,  they  were  hardly  divided  in 
their  deaths. 

Whitley,  the  fifty-ninth  of  the  county  brood,  was  organized  in  18 18, 
and  called  from  William  Whitley,  a  Virginia  pioneer  of  1775,  who 
built  a  station  in  Lincoln  County,  near  Logan's  Station,  St.  Asaph's. 

Harlan,  Hart,  Owen,  Simpson,  and  Todd  were  carved  out  of  dif- 
ferent and  distant  former  counties  by  the  legislature  of  18 19.  Four  of 
these  county-names  were  in  memory  of  fallen  heroes:  Major  Silas  Harlan 
and  Colonel  John  Todd  both  were  slain  by  the  Indians  in  the  disastrous 
battle  of  the  Blue  Licks  (1782)  which  was  Kentucky's  Wyoming;  Cap- 
tain John  Simpson  fell  at  the  River  Raisin,  and  Colonel  Abraham  Owen 
with  Joseph  Hamilton  Daviess,  was  of  the  fallen  at  Tippecanoe.  The 
first  two  battles — Blue  Licks  and  the  River  Raisin — brought  more  of 
sorrow  to  Kentucky  homes  than  all  other  conflicts  prior  to  our  great  Civil 
War.  Nathaniel  G.  T.  Hart,  whose  name  is  perpetuated  in  one  of  these 
county  names,  was  a  son  of  Thomas  Hart,  one  of  the  leading  spirits  in 
the  founding  of  "  Transylvania." 

Monroe,  Trigg,  Grant  and  Perry  Counties  date  their  legal  birth  to 
an  act  of  1820.  Two  of  them,  Monroe  and  Perry,  were  called  in  honor 
respectively,  of  James  Monroe,  then  President,  and  Commodore  Oliver 
Hazard  Perry,  the  hero  of  Lake  Erie;  while  another  of  these  names  was 
a  tribute  to  Colonel  Stephen  Trigg,  also  a  victim  to  the  tomahawk  at  the 
fatal  battle  of  the  Blue  Licks.  As  to  Grant  County's  name,  there  has 
long  been  doubt  as  to  whether  it  was  derived  from  Colonel  John  Grant 
who  founded  a  station  in  Fayette  County  in  1799,  or  from  his  nephew, 
Samuel  Grant  who  was  killed  by  the  Indians  in  1794. 

Lawrence,  Pike  and  Hickman  were  the  legislative  offspring  of 
1 82 1,  and  they  are  three  more  witnesses  to  Kentucky's  admiration  for 
military  glory,  in  the  persons  of  Captain  James  Lawrence,  the  famed 
commander  of  the  Chesapeake;  Captain  Zebulon  M.  Pike,  a  gallant  officer 
of  the  "  late  "  war  with  Great  Britain,  and  the  discoverer  of  Pike's  Peak; 


I50  KENTUCKY     COUNTY     NAMES. 

and  Captain  Paschal  Hickman,  another  Kentucky  victim  of  the  melan- 
choly River  Raisin. 

Calloway  and  Morgan  Counties  were  created  in  1822;  the  former 
having  its  name  from  Colonel  Richard  Calloway,  the  comrade  of  Boone 
in  the  building  of  Boonesborough;  the  latter  from  General  Daniel  Mor- 
gan, commander  of  the  famous  riflemen  corps  of  the  Revolutionary 
army,  many  of  which  body  finally  settled  in  Kentucky. 

Oldham,  Graves  and  Meade,  formed  in  1823,  are  three  more 
tributes  to  heroes  dead:  Colonel  William  Oldham,  a  gallant  officer  of 
the  Revolution,  and  in  1779  an  immigrant  to  Kentucky,  fell  under  the 
tomahawk  at  St.  Clair's  defeat  (1791)  ;  while  Captain  Benjamin  Graves 
and  Captain  James  Meade  were  two  more  of  Kentucky's  sacrifices  by  the 
"dark-flowing"  Raisin  (1812). 

Spencer  and  McCracken,  created  in  1824,  commemorate  with  their 
names  the  patriotism  of  two  young  Kentucky  captains  whose  lives  were 
given  for  their  country.  Captain  Spencer  fell  at  Tippecanoe  with 
Daviess,  Owen  and  many  of  Kentucky's  chivalry;  while  Captain  Virgil 
McCracken,  at  the  head  of  his  company  of  riflemen,  perished  with  most 
of  Allen's  regiment  at  the  Raisin. 

Edmonson,  Laurel  and  Russell  were  the  yield  of  1825.  The  first 
was  named  for  Captain  John  Edmonson,  another  Kentucky  sacrifice  by 
the  ill-omened  Raisin;  the  second  received  its  name  from  the  Laurel 
River,  and  that  from  the  profuse  laurel  shrub  growing  on  its  banks; 
while  the  third  was  in  honor  of  Colonel  William  Russell  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary army  who  came  to  Kentucky  in  1780,  fought  at  Tippecanoe, 
afterwards  commanded  the  north-western  frontier.  This  had  been  an 
era  of  county-making.  In  the  six  years,  18 19-1825,  twenty-two  members 
had  been  added  to  the  roll  of  State  sub-divisions — an  increase  out  of  all 
proportion  to  the  increase  in  population.  Henceforth  the  lengthening  of 
the  list  proceeded  at  a  more  moderate  rate,  though  still  rapidly  enough 
for  all  practical  purposes. 

Anderson  County  was  the  single  birth  of  1827,  and  received  its 
appelative  from  Hon.  Richard  C.  Anderson,  a  prominent  politician  of 
the  earlier  part  of  the  nineteenth  century.  He  died  in  1826  while  on 
his  way,  under  President  Monroe's  appointment  as  envoy  extraordinary 
and  minister  plenipotentiary  to  the  Congress  at  Panama  during  the  South 
American  revolution. 


KENTUCKY     COUNTY     NAMES.  151 

Hancock  County  was  marked  out  in  1829,  and  called  from  the 
Revolutionary  patriot,  John  Hancock. 

Marion  was  legislated  into  existence  in  1834,  and  named  for  Francis 
Marion,  the  famous  "  Swamp  Fox  "  of  the  Pedee. 

Clinton,  a  memorial  to  DeWitt  Clinton  of  New  York,  was  estab- 
lished by  an  Act  of  1835. 

Trimble  County,  created  in  1836,  received  its  name  from  Judge 
John  Trimble,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  first  Court  of  Appeals  of  Ken- 
tucky. 

Carroll  and  Carter  came  into  being  in  1838,  the  former  being  named 
for  him  of  Carrollton,  one  of  the  "  Signers  ";  the  latter  for  Colonel  Wil- 
liam G.  Carter,  a  politician  of  some  prominence  at  the  time  of  the  county's 
birth. 

Breathitt.  1839  witnessed  the  creation  of  this,  perhaps  the  most 
famous  (  ?)  of  Kentucky's  sub-divisions.  It  was  named  for  John  Breath- 
itt, who  was  elected  governor  of  the  commonwealth  in  1832,  but  died 
before  his  term  of  office  had  expired. 

Kenton,  Kentucky's  ninetieth  county,  was  a  tardy  recognition  of  the 
eminent  services  of  her  second  greatest  pioneer.  Many  names  which, 
but  for  their  linking  with  the  State's  sub-divisions,  would  have  been  lost, 
had  been  preferred  before  that  of  Simon  Kenton;  and  many  tricksters 
had  cheated  him  out  of  his  just  inheritance,  and  had  driven  him  an  exile 
and  in  poverty  from  that  Dark  and  Bloody  Ground  which  he  had  done 
so  much  to  win;  and  not  until  several  years  after  his  death  was  his  name 
perpetuated  in  a  permanent  memorial  by  the  State  he  had  served  so 
well. 

A  fresh  spasm  of  county-making  now  seized  the  legislature,  almost 
rivalling  that  of  twenty  years  before.  Henceforth  Kentucky  politicians 
were  to  have  almost  a  monopoly  in  the  god-fathering,  of  new  counties. 

Crittenden,  Marshall,  Ballard,  Boyle  and  Letcher  were  created  by 
Act  of  1842.  The  names  of  the  first  two  are  from  men  of  national  re- 
nown :  John  J.  Crittenden  and  Chief  Justice  John  Marshall.  Boyle 
County  was  named  for  John  Boyle,  Chief  Justice  of  the  commonwealth; 
and  Letcher  from  Robert  P.  Letcher,  a  former  governor  of  the  State; 
while  Ballard  County  is  commemorative  of  the  pioneer  hero  Bland  Bal- 
lard who  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  the  State's  Indian  fighters. 


152  KENTUCKY     COUNTY     NAMES. 

Owsley,  Johnson  and  Larue.  Three  counties  were  added  by  the 
legislature  of  1843.  The  first  of  these  was  named  in  honor  of  William 
Owsley,  the  fourteenth  governor  of  the  State;  while  the  second  received 
its  name  from  Richard  M.  Johnson,  Vice-President  with  Van  Buren,  and 
the  reputed  slayer  of  Tecumseh.  Larue  County  perpetuates  the  memory 
of  John  Larue,  a  pioneer  settler  within  the  county's  borders.  In  this 
county  is  the  birthplace  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

Fulton  County,  named  for  Robert  Fulton,  the  great  inventor,  was 
organized  in  1845. 

Taylor  County  was  formed  in  1848,  the  year  of  General  Zachary 
Taylor's  election  to  the  presidency,  and  called  in  his  honor. 

Powell  County,  organized  in  1852,  was  chistened  in  honor  of 
Lazarus  W.  Powell,  then  governor  of  the  commonwealth,  and  the  first 
Democratic  governor  since  the  division  of  parties  under  the  names  of 
Whigs  and  Democrats. 

Lyon  and  McLean  were  the  twin  offspring  of  1854;  the  former  was 
named  for  Chittenden  Lyon,  a  somewhat  brawny  politician  of  the  early 
days,  of  Irish  stock,  and  as  ready  to  clinch  an  argument  with  his  fist  as 
with  his  logic.  McLean  County  was  set  off  and  named  for  Judge  Alney 
McLean,  a  prominent  politician  of  the  Henry  Clay  school. 

Rowan  County,  laid  off  in  1856,  honored  in  its  name  the  memory 
of  John  Rowan,  one  of  the  early  judges  of  the  Court  of  Appeals,  and 
later  a  United  States  senator  from  Kentucky. 

Jackson  was  carved  out  of  several  counties  by  the  legislature  of 
1858,  and  named  for  "Old  Hickory."  Kentucky  had  been  steadily  a 
Henry  Clay  State,  and  it  was  not  until  the  final  downfall  of  the  Whig 
party  that  such  recognition  could  be  given  to  the  old  lion  of  the  Hermitage. 

i860  witnessed  the  birth  of  five  counties,  only  one  of  which — Webster 
— bore  a  name  of  a  specially  national  character.  Two  of  the  others — 
Metcalfe  and  Magoffin — were  named  for  chief  executives  of  the  com- 
monwealth: Thomas  Metcalfe  and  Beriah  Magoffin,  the  latter  the 
"  War  Governor  "  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War.  Hon.  Linn  Boyd, 
for  whom  one  of  the  counties  was  called,  was  elected  lieutenant-governor 
in  1859  on  the  ticket  with  Magoffin,  but  died  almost  immediately  after 
his  inauguration.  Wolfe  County  took  its  name  from  Hon.  Nat.  Wolfe, 
a  member  of  the  legislature  when  the  county  was  formed. 


KENTUCKY     COUNTY     NAMES.  153 

Henceforth  the  carving  of  counties,  with  the  exception  of  "'  Car- 
lisle," was  confined  to  the  mountain  districts.  Political  reasons  seem  to 
have  been  at  the  bottom  of  the  work. 

Robertson  and  Bell.  These  twins  were  born  in  1867,  and  were 
named,  the  one  for  Chief  Justice  George  Robertson;  the  other  for  Hon. 
Joshua  F.  Bell,  one  of  the  most  prominent  politicians  of  the  common- 
wealth. The  latter  county  was  at  first  called  "  Josh.  Bell,"  but  the  legis- 
lature afterwards  abbreviated  the  name  to  "  Bell." 

Two  years  later  (1869)  the  commonwealth  again  created  twin 
counties,  christened  "  Menifee"  and  "Elliot";  the  former  in  honor  of 
Richard  H.  Menifee,  a  brilliant  young  statesman  who  entered  Congress 
at  the  age  of  twenty-seven,  but  died  when  only  thirty-one.  Judge  John 
M.  Elliot  furnished  the  name  for  the  other  twin  of  this  legislature. 

The  next  year  the  prolific  Blue  Grass  State  brought  forth  another 
pair  of  twins;  the  former  called  Lee  in  honor  of  the  famous  Confederate 
General  Robert  E.  Lee;  the  second  was  in  honor  of  Colonel  John  P. 
Martin,  a  prominent  politician  of  the  ante-bellum  period. 

Knott  County  was  carved  out  of  mountain  territory  in  1884,  and 
named  in  honor  of  J.  Proctor  Knott,  a  former  Congressman,  afterwards 
governor  of  the  State,  widely  known  for  his  famous  "  Duluth  "  speech. 

Carlisle  brings  up  the  rear  of  Kentucky's  counties,  and  is  named  in 
honor  of  John  G.  Carlisle,  whose  national  reputation  relieves  us  from 
the  need  of  further  description.  The  county  is  in  Jackson  Purchase, 
that  little  nook  of  the  State  which  lies  between  the  Tennessee  and  the 
Mississippi  rivers,  and  which  was  the  latest  territory  to  be  included  in 
the  State's  bounds. 

The  very  close  connection  between  Virginia  and  Kentucky  is  shown 
by  the  naming  of  Kentucky's  counties.  Nearly  one-half  of  the  whole 
one  hundred  and  eighteen  bear  names  of  men  native  to  the  Old  Dominion 
even  though  many  of  them  became  residents  of  the  Dark  and  Bloody 
Ground.  Comparatively  few  names  are  drawn  from  other  common- 
wealths. This  Virginia  trend  helps  to  account  for  the  long  delay — oft- 
times  the  total  neglect — in  recognizing  the  services  of  many  Revolu- 
tionary heroes,  as  well  as  of  many  deserving  pioneers  born  elsewhere 
than  under  "  Sic  Semper  Tyrannis."  Kentucky  was  the  first-born  and  the 
favorite  child  of  the  "  Mother  of  Presidents." 


154  KENTUCKY     COUNTY     NAMES. 

We  are  surprised  to  find  in  this,  the  red  man's  favorite  hunting 
ground,  so  few  local  names  to  attest  his  former  presence  here.  Only  one 
of  Kentucky's  counties  bears  an  Indian  name.  Hardly  any  of  her  towns, 
rivers,  hills,  mountains,  "  licks,"  mounds,  or  other  locals,  bear  witness 
to  the  Indian's  former  residence  in  this,  the  most  hotly  contested  of  all 
his  former  homes — a  marked  contrast  to  the  States  further  south  where 
Indian  names  abound.  This  is  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the 
Indian  had  no  habitation  in  his  beloved  "  Cane-land  "  when  the  pale 
faces  were  first  seen  here.  More  than  twenty  years  before  that  time  the 
last  of  the  aboriginal  dwellers  here  had  been  driven  beyond  the  Ohio  by 
their  southern  rivals,  and  their  transient  abodes  were  but  nameless  rub- 
bish heaps  before  the  invaders'  eyes.  In  Kentucky  alone  of  all  the 
States,  there  was  never  concord,  nor  even  armistice,  between  the  two 
races;  never  for  even  a  day  did  thy  dwell  in  amity  side  by  side.  The 
status  between  them  was  always  of  war;  there  was  no  friendly  inter- 
course, no  trading,  no  mingling  of  blood  in  a  new  race;  there  were  no 
half-breeds.  Consequently  there  was  no  opportunity — no  inclination, 
d'oubtless — on  the  part  of  the  whites  to  even  learn,  much  less  to  per- 
petuate, the  Indian  local  names  in  the  beautiful  "  Cane-land." 

We  wish  now  that  it  were  otherwise.  How  gladly  would  we  substi- 
tute the  soft,  flowing,  expressive  Indian  names  of  many  a  hill,  river, 
valley,  mountain-pass,  mound,  cave,  or  fountain,  for  the  inexpressive, 
malapropos  cognomen  of  some  settler,  or  of  some  local  politician  whose 
claims  to  such  distinction  are  of  the  least  deserving. 

Such  was  the  work — tanta  molis — to  found  and  to  name  the  sub- 
divisions of  the  beautiful  Blue  Grass  commonwealth. 

H.  A.  Scomp. 

Parksville,  Ky. 


PRACTICAL  WORK  OF  THE  SONS  OF  THE  REVOLUTION. 

I.       IN    NEW   YORK 

THE  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  a  society  formed  to  perpetuate  the 
can  Independence ;  to  promote  and  assist  in  the  proper  celebration 
memory  of  the  men  who  by  their  acts  or  counsel  achieved  Ameri- 
of  the  anniversary  of  Washington's  Birthday  and  other  prominent  events 
connected  with  the  War  of  the  Revolution;  to  collect  records  and  other 
documents  of  that  war  and  to  inspire  a  patriotic  spirit:  has  in  carrying 
out  these  principles,  placed  tablets,  erected  statues  and  preserved  his- 
torical buildings.  Some  of  the  most  important  of  its  achievements  are 
the  following:  A  bronze  tablet  placed  on  the  building  at  the  northwest 
corner  of  John  and  William  Streets,  New  York,  to  commemorate  the 
conflict  there  between  British  troops  and  the  "  Sons  of  Liberty,"  January 
1 8,  1770.  This  locality  was  then  known  as  "Golden  Hill,"  and  the 
tablet  thus  represents  the  site  of  the  actual  collision  and  bloodshed  fol- 
lowing the  various  efforts  of  the  soldiers  to  destroy  the  Liberty  Pole  in 
the  City  Hall  Park. 

As  the  "  battle  of  Golden  Hill  "  is  generally  considered  the  first 
resistance  to  British  authority  immediately  preceding  the  outbreak  of 
the  Revolution,  it  was  eminently  fitting  that  this  should  be  the  first 
memorial  erected  (1892)  by  the  society. 

The  second  memorial  is  a  large  bronze  tablet,  placed  on  the  front 
wall  of  the  building  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Broad  and  Beaver  Streets. 
It  commemorates  the  resolute  act  of  Marinus  Willett  (subsequently 
colonel  of  New  York  troops,  brigadier  general,  Mayor  of  New  York, 
etc.,  whose  Revolutionary  services  are  too  well-known  to  need  recapitu- 
lation here).  On  June  6,  1775,  as  the  British  troops  were  leaving  for 
Boston,  marching  down  Broad  Street,  Willett  and  a  few  of  his  associates 
among  the  Sons  of  Liberty  stopped  the  first  cart  accompanied  by  the 
soldiers,  and  loaded  with  the  spare  muskets  of  the  force.  All  the  carts 
were  thus  seized,  and  the  loads  deposited  at  John  Street  and  Broadway, 
to  be  afterwards  used  in  arming  New  York's  first  troops  for  the 
Revolution. 

155 


I56  PRACTICAL    WORK     OF    THE     SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 

A  tablet  was  placed  in  1893  at  the  foot  of  Laight  Street  on  the 
North  River,  to  mark  the  spot  where  Washington  landed  on  his  way 
from  Philadelphia  to  assume  command  of  the  American  army  at  Boston 
in  June,  1775.  The  Philadelphia  "  City  Troop  "  had  escorted  him  to 
the  Jersey  side  of  the  river. 

A  second  tablet,  to  commemorate  the  reading  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  before  the  American  troops  on  the  parade  ground  (now 
the  City  Hall  Park)  July  9,  1776,  was  placed  on  the  south  wall  of  the 
City  Hall,  in  1893. 

Tablet  to  commemorate  the  destruction  of  the  equestrian  statue  of 
King  George  III  in  the  Bowling  Green,  on  the  night  of  July  9,  1776,  by 
the  citizens  of  New  York.  This  tablet  was  placed  on  the  Washington 
Building,  No.  1  Broadway,  in  1893,  and  is  also  intended  to  mark  the 
site  of  the  Kennedy  House,  once  occupied  by  Washington,  Putnam  and 
other  generals  as  their  headquarters,  and  by  Sir  Henry  Clinton  after- 
wards.    Here  also  Major  Andre  was  a  frequent  visitor. 

A  tablet  marks  the  spot  where  Washington,  Putnam  and  other  offi- 
cers met  to  stem  the  tide  of  panic  which  seized  the  American  soldiers  on 
September  15,  1776,  when  New  York  City  was  abandoned  to  the  enemy. 
It  was  erected  November  25,  1893,  on  the  west  side  of  Broadway,  be- 
tween 43  d  and  44th  Streets. 

The  bronze  statue  of  Captain  Nathan  Hale,  the  martyr-spy  of  the 
Revolution,  facing  Broadway  in  the  City  Hall  Park,  designed  by  the 
sculptor  MacMonnies,  unveiled  November  25,  1893.  Of  this  memorial, 
so  familiar  to  all,  it  only  needs  to  be  said  that  it  was  accepted  at  once  by 
our  people  as  an  ornament  to  the  City  and  an  honor  to  the  patriotic 
society  that  erected  it. 

An  elaborate  tablet  to  commemorate  the  Battle  of  Long  Island, 
fought  August  27,  1776,  was  placed  in  1895,  on  the  wall  of  a  building 
at  the  junction  of  Flatbush  Avenue  and  Fulton  Street  in  Brooklyn,  on 
the  line  of  the  American  defensive  works. 

The  work  of  the  society  has  not  been  entirely  confined  to  the  city 
of  New  York,  for  in  1898  it  erected  and  dedicated  a  handsome  marble 
monument  to  the  memory  of  General  Seth  Pomeroy,  at  Peekskill,  N.  Y., 
near  the  spot  where  he  was  buried  with  the  honors  of  war,  in  1777.  The 
veteran's  grave  had  never  before  been  marked. 


PRACTICAL     WORK     OF    THE     SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION.  1 57 

Another  spot  marked  by  a  bronze  tablet  is  the  spring  of  water,  from 
which  the  village  of  Cold  Spring,  Putnam  County,  N.  Y.,  takes  its 
name,  and  which  Washington  used. 

A  handsome  tablet  with  a  bas-relief  showing  the  "  Action  at  Tarry- 
town,"  which  took  place  July  15,  178 1,  between  the  Continental  and 
British  forces,  was  placed  on  the  New  York  Central  and  Hudson  River 
R.  R.  station  at  Tarrytown,  N.  Y.,  and  was  dedicated  July  15,  1899. 

On  what  remains  of  the  wall  of  the  officers'  quarters  at  old  Fort 
Ticonderoga,  near  the  spot  where  Captain  Delaplace  surrendered  to 
Ethan  Allen,  the  society  has  placed  a  tablet,  which  was  unveiled  June 
14,  1900. 

The  bronze  memorial  at  Columbia  College,  New  York,  to  commem- 
orate the  battle  and  victory  of  Harlem  Heights,  September  16,  1776,  was 
placed  by  the  society.  This  tablet  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  elaborate 
in  the  country,  and  in  its  reliefs  is  perpetuated  the  life  and  spirit  which 
animated  the  Revolutionary  soldier  on  the  occasion. 

A  tablet  in  St.  Paul's  Church,  New  York  City,  was  placed  by  the 
Sons  of  the  Revolution  and  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  to  commemorate 
the  centennial  anniversary  of  the  death  of  Washington,  on  December 
14,  1899. 

A  tablet  at  New  York  University,  Morris  Heights,  New  York  City, 
to  mark  the  site  of  Revolutionary  forts,  was  unveiled  June  4,  1906, 
and  another  at  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  138th  Street  and 
St.  Nicholas  Terrace,  on  the  site  where  the  American  troops  were  en- 
camped at  various  times  during  the  Revolution  and  where  several  skir- 
mishes occurred.  The  New  York  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution 
also  took  an  active  part  in  securing  and  presenting  to  the  Connecticut 
Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  the  Nathan  Hale  schoolhouse  at 
East  Haddam,  Conn.,  where  Hale  served  as  teacher. 

A  tablet  at  153d  Street  and  the  Boulevard,  New  York  City,  to 
mark  the  site  of  Revolutionary  camping  grounds,  was  also  placed  by 
the  society. 

The  latest  work  of  the  society  is  the  purchase  and  restoration,  as 
near  as  possible,  to  its  original  appearance  in  1783,  of  the  historic 
"  Fraunces'  Tavern,"  at  the  corner  of  Broad  and  Pearl  Streets,  New 


i58 


PRACTICAL     WORK     OF    THE     SONS     OF     THE     REVOLUTION. 


York.  The  society  now  occupies  it  as  its  headquarters,  and  has  restored 
the  "  Long  Room,"  where  Washington  bid  farewell  to  his  officers,  to 
its  presumably  original  condition.  It  is  a  matter  of  public  importance 
that  this,  one  of  the  oldest  buildings  in  the  city,  and  the  one  most  inti- 
mately connected  with  the  Revolution,  should  thus  be  saved  from 
destruction  and  be  preserved,  most  appropriately,  by  a  society  numbering 
among  its  members  many  persons  who  are  descended  from  the  officers 
who  gathered  there  on  that  memorable  fourth  of  December,  1783,  to 
take  leave  of  the  Father  of  his  Country. 

Henry  R.  Drowne. 

New  York. 


LINCOLN'S    OFFER    TO    GARIBALDI 

AT  a  recent  meeting  of  an  Historical  Congress  held  at  Perugia, 
Italy,  in  September,  Mr.  H.  Nelson  Gay,  an  American  now 
.  resident  in  Rome,  submitted  an  interesting  paper,  being  a  part 
of  a  work  upon  which  he  is  engaged,  entitled  "  Le  relazioni  fra  l'ltalia 
e  gli  Stati  Uniti."  This  paper  was  based  upon  original  material  which 
Mr.  Gay  had  unearthed  in  the  archives  of  the  American  legation  at 
Brussels,  and  related  to  an  offer  of  a  high  command  in  the  Army  of  the 
United  States  made  to  Garibaldi  during  the  summer  of  1861,  shortly 
after  the  disgraceful  rout  known  as  the  first  Battle  of  Bull  Run.  Henry 
Shelton  Sanford,  of  Connecticut,  was  then  the  United  States  Minister  at 
Brussels,  and  the  material  in  question  was  part  of  Mr.  Sanford's  official 
correspondence. 

Subsequently  Mr.  Gay  put  this  material  into  the  form  of  a  paper 
entitled  "  Lincoln's  Offer  of  a  Command  to  Garibaldi — light  on  a  disputed 
point  of  history,"  which  appeared  in  the  last  November  (1907)  issue  of 
The  Century}  He  there  gives  the  history  of  this  offer  which,  now  for- 
gotten, at  the  time  caused  some  discussion;  but  the  details  connected  with 
it  are  now  for  the  first  time  revealed.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Gari- 
baldi, in  1 861,  was  living  in  retirement.  The  present  kingdom  of  Italy, 
under  the  rule  of  Victor  Emanuel,  had  been  brought  into  existence  as  the 
result  of  the  operations  in  which  Garibaldi  had  taken  so  famous  and 
prominent  a  part  in  the  summer  of  i860,  but  did  not  yet  include  the 
Papal  temporality.  The  seat  of  government  of  the  newly  united  Italy 
had  been  established  at  Florence;  but  Garibaldi  was  looking  forward  to 
the  occupation  of  Rome  as  the  capital  of  the  kingdom.  His  fame  was, 
of  course,  world-wide.  Mr.  Gay  now  makes  public  a  correspondence 
which  passed  at  the  time,  and  in  which  Mr.  Sanford  took  a  prominent 
part.  As  is  well  known,  nothing  resulted  from  the  most  ill-considered1 
move  to  which  it  relates;  but  none  the  less  it  has  an  historical  interest, 
and  moreover  it  conveys  a  lesson.  The  correspondence  took  place  during 
the  earlier  months  of  my  father's  seven  years  of  diplomatic  service  in 
England,  he  having  reached  London  during  the  previous  May.    He  knew 

— Read    before    the    Massachusetts    Historical    Society. 

!LXXV.    (No.    1),    63-74. 
159 


160  Lincoln's   offer   to   garibaldi. 

nothing  of  it  until  it  was  over;  but  I  find  in  his  diary  the  following  entry, 
under  date  of  Friday,  September  20,  1861,  which  has  a  certain  significance 
in  connection  with  Mr.  Gay's  article  in  the  Century.  I  reproduce  it  in 
full: 

Had  visits  also  from  Mr.  Sanford  and  Mr.  Motley,  both  of  whom 
came  to  dine  with  me.  The  former  seemed  very  anxious  to  explain 
to  both  of  us  his  agency  in  the  invitation  extended  to  Garibaldi  to  go 
to  America.  This  matter  has  given  occasion  to  a  good  deal  of  un- 
pleasant remark  in  Europe,  as  indicating  that  we  did  not  feel  com- 
petent to  manage  our  business,  with  our  own  officers.  I  had  been 
consulted  about  it  by  Mr.  Lucas,  who  wished  authority  to  contra- 
dict it,  which  I  could  not  give  him  excepting  in  so  far  as  the  story 
affirmed  that  the  supreme  command  had  been  offered  to  [Garibaldi]. 
I  gave  him  on  Tuesday  my  version  of  the  matter,  which  was  this: 
That  probably  some  irresponsible  individual  had  first  sounded  [Gari- 
baldi] as  to  his  disposition  to  go.  Then  that  the  government  on 
receiving  information  of  this  had  authorized  an  offer  of  a  com- 
mand:— That  Garibaldi  had  demanded  a  general  power,  which  could 
not  be  admitted,  and  the  negotiation  had  gone  off  on  this  issue. 
My  conjecture  proved  in  the  main  correct,  though  there  were  ma- 
terial additions  in  the  narrative  of  Mr.  Sanford.  It  seems  that  one 
James  W.  Quiggle,  officiating  as  consul  at  Antwerp,  some  time  since 
whilst  travelling  in  Italy  made  acquaintance  enough  with  Garibaldi 
to  induce  him  to  volunteer  a  letter  of  enquiry  as  to  his  feeling  on 
the  American  question.  The  reply  was  of  such  a  kind  as  to  induce 
Mr.  Quiggle  to  send  a  copy  to  the  Department  of  State.  This  had 
brought  a  letter  of  instructions  to  Mr.  Sanford  to  go  and  make 
Garibaldi  an  offer  of  a  position  of  Major  General,  being  the  highest 
army  rank  in  the  gift  of  the  President.  At  the  same  time  it  eulo- 
gized Mr.  Quiggle,  and  directed  Mr.  Sanford  to  offer  him  any  place 
under  the  General  that  he  might  prefer.  Sanford,  professing  to  be 
well  aware  of  the  responsibility  resting  on  him,  and  desirous  of  keep- 
ing the  control  of  the  matter  in  his  hands,  yet  posts  off  first  of  all 
to  Mr.  Quiggle  and  reads  him  the  instruction  as  well  as  the  com- 
pliment to  himself.  Quiggle  insists  upon  seeing  and  reading  it,  is 
cunning  enough  to  take  a  copy,  and  then  on  the  strength  of  it  antici- 
pated poor  Sanford  by  writing  at  once  to  Garibaldi  to  apprise  him 
that  the  government  had  forwarded  him  a  formal  invitation  to  take 
the  supreme  command  in  America,  of  which  he  would  receive  due 


Lincoln's   offer   to   garibaldi.  161 

notice  presently.     Finding  this  misconception  fastened  on  the  mind 
of  Garibaldi  by  this  folly  of  his  own,  his  next  task  was  to  remedy 
the  evil  in  the  best  way  he  could.     Accordingly  he  goes  to  Turin, 
where  he  finds  a  friend  of  Garibaldi  who  has  come  from  him  to 
notify  the  King  of  Sardinia  that  he  is  ready  to  go  to  America,  if  his 
services  are  not  wanted  in  Italy.     In  other  words,  he  threatens  to 
withdraw  the  aid  of  his  popularity  to  the  King  if  he  refuses  to  ad- 
vance forthwith  upon  Rome.     The  King  is  too  wary  to  be  drawn 
into  the  trap;  so,  with  great  professions  of  good  will,  reluctantly 
grants  his  consent  to  the  chief's  departure.    It  follows  that  Garibaldi, 
mortified  at  the  failure  of  his  scheme,  has  no  resource  but  to  execute 
his  threat.    But  here  again  Mr.  Sanford  is  compelled  to  intervene  to 
protect  the  American  Government  from  the  effects  of  Garibaldi's 
misconception.    To  that  end  he  pays  him  a  visit  and  discloses  to  him 
the  fact  that  he  can  have  a  command,  but  not  the  supreme  control. 
This  of  course  changes  his  views  again.     He  cannot  think  of  going 
to  America  without  having  the  power  of  a  Dictator,  and  the  con- 
tingent right  to  proclaim  emancipation  to  the  slaves.     On  this  point 
the  negotiation  went  off.    A  strange  medley  of  blunders.     Garibaldi 
however  felt  so  awkwardly  placed  by  his  failure  to  carry  the  King 
off  his  feet,  that  he  still  clung  to  the  idea  of  paying  a  visit  to  America 
as  a  private  citizen.    Mr.  Sanford  offered  him  every  facility  to  go  out 
as  a  guest,  but  he  declined  it  all,  and  finished  by  saying  that  if  he 
decided  to  go  it  should  be  in  his  own  way.    This  seems  to  me  a  lucky 
escape;  for  our  officers  have  too  much  sense  of  honor  not  to  feel  that 
the  introduction  of  a  foreigner  to  do  their  work  is  a  lasting  discredit 
to  themselves.    At  best  it  is  little  more  than  a  clap-trap.   Mr.  Seward 
is  unquestionably  a  statesman  of  large  and  comprehensive  views,  but 
in  his  management  of  his  office  he  betrays  two  defects.    One  a  want 
of  systematic  and  dignified  operation  in  the  opinion  of  the  world — 
the  other,  an  admixture  of  that  earthly  taint  which  comes  from  early 
training  in  the  school  of  New  York  State  politics.     The  first  show 
itself  in  a  somewhat  brusque  and  ungracious  manner  towards  the 
representatives  of  foreign  nations.     The  second,  in  a  rather  indis- 
criminate appliance  of  means  to  ends.     Mr.  Sanford  evidently  felt 
that  he  had  not  gained  much  in  this  melee,  but  I  made  no  remark 
beyond  expressing  a   fear  of  the   effect  upon   Generals  Scott  and 
McClellan. 

This  distinctly  humiliating  foot-note,  for  it  amounts  to  that,  in  the 


1 62  Lincoln's   offer   to   garibaldi. 

early  history  of  our  War  of  Secession,  is  curiously  suggestive  of  a  very 
similar  episode  which  had  occurred  some  eighty  years  before,  during  the 
progress  of  our  War  of  Independence.  My  attention  has  been  recently 
drawn  to  the  similarity  of  the  experiences  while  reading  Sir  George  Otto 
Trevelyan's  last  volume  of  his  work  entitled  "  The  American  Revolution." 

In  there  recounting  the  operations  of  the  third  year  (1778)  of  the 
war,  he  refers  to  the  strange  antics  of  Silas  Deane,  then  established  at 
Paris  in  the  anomalous  position  described  as  "  business  agent  of  the 
Revolutionary  government."  "  Silas  Deane,  with  ineffable  folly,"  he 
proceeds  to  remind  us,  "was  at  this  time  (1778)  scheming  to  get  the 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  American  army  superseded,  and  his  functions 
transferred  to  the  Comte  de  Broglie, — a  restless,  and  not  very  successful, 
diplomatist,  and  a  fifth-rate  general."  1  "  Mr.  Deane's  mad  contract 
with  Monsieur  du  Coudray  and  his  hundred  officers  "  is  also  referred  to,2 
and  the  fact  that  a  wretched  French  adventurer,  as  ignorant  of  both 
American  conditions  and  character  as  of  the  English  language,  was 
actually  contracted  with  on  terms  which  would  have  led  to  his  superseding 
General  Knox  in  command  of  Washington's  artillery.  Naturally,  such 
an  appointment  led  to  a  tender  of  resignation  on  the  part  of  Greene, 
Knox  and  Sullivan,  who  all  found  themselves  outranked  and  felt  humili- 
ated. And  so  in  1861  history  repeated  itself,  the  earlier  page  of  1778 
being  quite  forgotten;  though  it  is  only  fair  to  bear  in  mind  the  fact,  in 
a  degree  redeeming,  that  Garibaldi  was  not  a  Comte  de  Broglie,  nor 
Sanford  a  Silas  Deane.  Even  this  much,  however,  cannot  be  said  of  the 
personage  designated  as  "one  James  W.  Quiggle,  officiating  (in  1861) 
as  consul  at  Antwerp."  But,  no  matter  how  charitably  viewed,  the  more 
recent  episode  of  the  two,  seen  through  the  perspective  of  nearly  half  a 
century,  is,  it  must  be  conceded,  far  from  being  in  strict  accordance  with 
a  proper  sense  of  national  self-respect. 

The  two  incidents,  separated  by  more  than  three-fourths  of  a  century, 
are,  indeed,  suggestive  of  a  certain  element  of  provincialism  and  lack  of 
self-confidence,  so  to  speak,  paradoxical  as  it  sounds,  in  the  American 
people.  We  seem  never  to  have  quite  got  over  the  colonial,  or  rather 
the  provincial,  feeling  that,  somehow  or  in  some  way,  the  old  countries 
of  Europe  contain  material  of  which  we  ourselves  are  more  or  less  barren. 
For  instance,  in  the  Boston  Herald  for  February  11,  there  is  an  editorial 
entitled  "  A  Prophet  and  his  Prophecy."     In  this  article  a  "  distinguished 

1  "  The  American  Revolution,"  Part  III,  42. 
-  Ibid.    40. 


Lincoln's   offer   to   garibaldi.  163 

French  journalist  "  now  visiting  this  country — whose  name,  however, 
does  not  appear — is  quoted  as  saying  that,  in  case  of  a  war  between  Japan 
and  this  country,  as  the  result  of  earlier  successes  on  the  part  of  the 
Asiatic  nation,  "  American  money  will  be  inducing  soldiers  of  fortune 
from  all  lands  to  join  the  forces  of  the  United  States.  Then  the  United 
States  will  win."  The  quotation  is  suggestive  of  that  most  illuminating 
paper  of  James  Russell  Lowell,  written  in  1869,  shortly  after  the  close 
of  our  War  of  Secession,  entitled  "  On  a  Certain  Condescension  in  For- 
eigners." That  condescension  we  seem  actually  through  both  the  eight- 
eenth and  nineteenth  centuries  to  have  gone  out  to  seek.  We  invited  it; 
and  at  no  time  in  our  history  do  we  seem  to  have  been  more  prone  to 
this  tacit  self-confession  of  foreign  superiority  than  during  the  years  which 
immediately  preceded  the  War  of  Secession.  As  Mr.  Lowell,  writing  in 
1869,1  says: 

Before  our  war  we  were  to  Europe  but  a  huge  mob  of  adventurers 
and  shop-keepers.  Leigh  Hunt  expressed  it  well  enough  when  he 
said  that  he  could  never  think  of  America  without  seeing  a  gigantic 
counter  stretched  all  along  the  seaboard. 

Mr.  Lowell  then  goes  on : 

Democracy  had  been  hitherto  only  a  ludicrous  effort  to  reverse  the 
laws  of  nature  by  thrusting  Cleon  into  the  place  of  Pericles.  But 
a  democracy  that  could  fight  for  an  abstraction,  whose  members  held 
life  and  goods  cheap  compared  with  that  larger  life  we  call  country, 
was  not  merely  unheard-of,  but  portentous. 

None  the  less,  Mr.  Gay's  paper  in  "  The  Century  Magazine  "  re- 
minds us  how  in  the  early  stages  of  that  struggle  we  advertised  to  the 
world  through  our  highest  officials — the  President  and  Secretary  of  State 
— our  lack  of  self-confidence,  and  went  forth  to  invite  a  manifestation 
of  "  condescension  in  foreigners."  But  it  is  curious  now  to  consider  what 
might  have  occurred  had  the  offer  to  Garibaldi  been  accepted.  At  best, 
from  a  military  point  of  view,  a  daring  partisan  leader,  the  probabilities 
are  great  that  the  liberator  of  the  two  Sicilies  would  have  sustained  a 
lamentable  loss  of  prestige. 

He,  it  is  true  was  exceptional;  but  in  the  "  Reminiscences  "  of  Carl 

1  "  My  Study  Windows,"  76,  77. 


164  Lincoln's   offer   to   garibaldi. 

Schurz,  recently  published,  there  is  a  most  suggestive  passage  bearing 
upon  these  foreign  military  adventurers  taken  as  a  whole, — "  soldiers  of 
fortune,"  as  they  were  called, — who  came  under  Mr.  Schurz's  own  ob- 
servation. He  says  that,  after  his  return  (1862)  from  his  mission  to 
Spain,  and  when  he  had  himself  been  offered  a  brigadier-generalship  in 
our  army  by  President  Lincoln : 

While  I  was  waiting  in  Washington  for  my  confirmation  and 
assignment,  I  had  again  to  undergo  the  tribulations  of  persons  who 
are  supposed  to  be  men  of  "  influence."  The  news  had  gone  abroad 
that  in  America  there  was  a  great  demand  for  officers  of  military 
training  and  experience.  This  demand  could  not  fail  to  attract  from 
all  parts  of  the  globe  adventurous  characters  who  had,  or  pre- 
tended to  have,  seen  military  service  in  one  country  or  another,  and 
who  believed  that  there  was  a  chance  for  prompt  employment  and 
rapid  promotion.  Washington  at  that  period  fairly  swarmed  with 
them.  Some  were  very  respectable  persons,  who  came  here  well 
recommended,  and  subsequently  made  a  praiseworthy  record.  Others 
belonged  to  the  class  of  adventurers  who  traded  on  their  good  looks 
or  on  the  fine  stories  they  had  concocted  of  their  own  virtues  and 
achievements  [ii.  338]. 

Mr.  Schurz  then  goes  on  to  specify  instances: 

A  young  man,  calling  himself  Count  von  Schweinitz,  presented 
himself  to  me  neatly  attired  in  the  uniform  of  an  Austrian  officer 
of  Uhlans.  He  was  very  glib  of  tongue,  and  exhibited  papers  which 
had  an  authentic  look,  and  seemed  to  sustain  his  pretensions.  But 
there  were  occasional  smartnesses  in  his  conversation  which  made 
me  suspicious.  He  may  have  noticed  that  I  hesitated  to  trust  him, 
for  suddenly  he  ceased  to  press  me  with  his  suit.  I  learned  after- 
wards that  he  had  succeeded  in  obtaining  some  appointment,  and 
also  in  borrowing  considerable  sums  of  money  from  two  foreign 
Ministers.  Finally  it  turned  out  that  his  mother  was  a  washerwoman, 
that  he  had  served  an  Austrian  officer  of  Uhlans  as  a  valet,  and  that 
as  such  he  had  possessed  himself  of  his  uniform  and  his  master's 
papers  [ii.  339]. 

Recalling  these  somewhat  unsavory  reminiscences,  it  is  not  without 
interest  to  ask  ourselves  whether  this  state  of  affairs  will  ever  wholly 


Lincoln's   offer   to   garibaldi.  165 

cease  to  be :  whether  the  time  will  at  last  indeed  come  when  we  Americans 
will  look  upon  the  older  European  nations  as  otherwise  than  in  some  way 
superior;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  whether  those  nations  willever  approach 
us  without  a  certain  sense  of  that  condescension  of  the  foreigner  upon 
which  Mr.  Lowell  animadverted  half  a  century  ago.  At  present  it  seems 
to  have  assumed  a  most  unsavory  phase,  but  one  which  is  perhaps  the 
natural  result  of  the  rapid  accumulation  of  vast  wealth  in  the  hands  of 
the  self-made  individual, — the  purchase  of  titles,  always  encumbered  by 
a  man,  by  American  young  women,  or  for  American  young  women  by 
their  families,  who  wish  in  this  way  to  identify  themselves  with  an 
aristocracy.  It  is,  in  fact,  difficult  to-day  to  take  up  a  newspaper  without 
coming  across  a  reference  to  such  cases,  usually  in  the  divorce  courts, — 
an  Italian  prince,  an  English  duke  or  earl,  or  a  French  count,  more  or 
less,  as  the  evidence  shows,  a  degenerate,  married  to  a  rich  Americaness. 
It  is  the  same  old  weakness;  but,  whether  studied  in  the  pages  of  Trevel- 
yan,  in  Mr.  Gay's  paper,  or  in  the  scandal-mongering  columns  of  to-day's 
society  journals,  it  is  not  inspiring;  and  I  confess  to  a  certain  sense  of 
satisfaction  in  thus  putting  on  record  the  evidence  that,  with  sturdy 
Americanism,  Mr.  Adams,  when  he  heard  of  the  Seward-Garibaldi  inci- 
dent of  1 86 1,  saw  the  thing  in  its  true  light,  and  most  properly,  as  well 
as  correctly,  characterized  it. 

Charles  Francis  Adams. 

Bostom. 


GENEALOGICAL 

FOUR  REVOLUTIONARY  SOLDIERS,  WITH  REFERENCES  TO  THEIR  ANCESTRY 

I.      Captain  Peter  Dumont  (i 744-1 821). 

iETER  H.  DUMONT,  a  descendant  of  Wallerand  Dumont, 
French  Huguenot,  who  emigrated  to  America  in  1657,  resided  in 
Hillsboro  township,  Somerset  County,  New  Jersey,  during  the  war 
of  the  American  Revolution,  in  which  he  took  an  active  part.  He  was 
undoubtedly  identical  with  the  Peter  Dumont,  Captain  Second  Battalion, 
Somerset.  Tradition  recites  that  General  Washington  called  him  from 
the  field  to  become  the  commissary  in  charge  of  army-supplies  at  Van 
Ness'  Mills,  and,  in  fact,  one  of  his  descendants  possesses  his  original 
commissary  record-book.  He  was,  as  "  Peter  H.  Dumont,"  designated 
by  Congress,  in  1777,  a  member  of  a  Committee  of  Safety  for  Hills- 
boro township,  "  to  act  in  behalf  of  the  county  when  necessary."  His 
son,  Colonel  John  Dumont,  was  the  father  of  General  Ebenezer  Dumont 
of  Indiana,  who  did  valiant  work  for  the  Union  during  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion.  The  history  of  the  Dumont  family  in  America  is  given  in 
the  works  below  enumerated : 

'  Documents  relating  to  the  Colonial  history  of  the  State  of  New 
Jersey,"  vol.  xxii.,  ("  Marriage  Records,  1 665-1 800  ")  page  111 ;  Pater- 
son,  N.  J.  1900. 

"  Calendar  of  Wills  in  New  York,  1 626-1 836,"  edited  by  Berthold 
Fernow;  New  York,  1896. 

"  Officers  and  Men  of  New  Jersey  in  the  Revolutionary  War,"  by 
W.  S.  Stryker;  page  389. 

New  York  Genealogical  and  Bio  graphical  Record,  vol.  xxix.,  103- 
109;  161-164;  237-240,  vol.  xxx.,  p.  36-40;  vol.  xxxvii.,  p.  34. 

"Tales  of  Our  Forefathers,"  Albany,  New  York,  1898. 

II.     Captain  Moses  Guest  (1755-1828). 

Moses  Guest,  son  of  Henry  Guest,  an  American  patriot,  was  born  in 

166 


GENEALOGICAL.  1 67 

New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey,  7  November,  1755.  While  following  the 
sea  he  had  an  interesting  interview  with  Henry  Laurens  at  Charleston, 
South  Carolina.  Subsequently,  having  sold  his  vessel,  he  engaged  in  the 
fur-trading  business  and  made  a  journey  to  Montreal  and  Quebec.  He 
was  an  Ensign  in  Captain  Voorhees'  Company,  Third  Middlesex  Regi- 
ment, New  Jersey  militia,  on  8  Sept.,  1777,  and  afterwards  Captain  in 
the  Second  Middlesex  Regiment.  Lieutenant-Colonel  J.  G.  Simcoe,  com- 
mander of  the  Queen's  Rangers,  was  captured  by  Capt.  Guest,  26  October, 
1779.  The  latter  died  at  Cincinnati,  in  1828.  His  ancestry  is  said  to  be 
traceable  to  the  Guests  of  Birmingham,  England.  The  principal  facts 
concerning  the  family  are  to  be  found  in  the  works  mentioned  below : 

"The  Registers  of  St.  Martin's,  Birmingham,  England,"  1903, 
vol.  ii. 

"  Officers  and  Men  of  New  Jersey,"  by  W.  S.  Stryker,  1872. 

"  Tales  of  Our  Forefathers,"  Albany,  New  York,  1898. 

Private  manuscript  collections  possessed  by  Robert  C.  Moon,  M.  D., 
618  Witherspoon  Building,  Philadelphia,  Penn. 

III.     "  Captain  "  James  McPike    ( 1751  (  ?)-i825) . 

James  McPike  (whose  mother  is  believed  to  have  been  closely  re- 
lated to  the  family  of  Dr.  Edmond  Halley,  the  second  Astronomer-Royal 
of  England)  migrated,  circa  1772,  to  Baltimore,  Maryland,  where  he 
acted  as  a  recruiting  sergeant.  He  served  in  the  American  military  forces 
throughout  the  Revolution,  under  Colonel'  John  Eager  Howard  of  Balti- 
more, General  Lafayette  and  others,  and  participated  in  several  battles 
including  the  storming  of  Stony  Point.  Therefore,  he  was  probably 
identical'  with  the  James  McPike,  sergeant  in  Captain  Benjamin  Fish- 
bourne's  company,  Fourth  Pennsylvania  Line,  William  Butler,  Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel. 

One  James  McPike  served  as  a  private  in  Captain  John  Brisbane's 
company,  Third  Pennsylvania  Regiment,  commanded  by  Colonel  Joseph 
Wood.  His  name  appears  on  a  roll  dated  April  1,  1777,  with  remark: 
"  enlisted  Jan.  16,  1777." 

The  name  of  James  McPike  is  again  entered,  as  a  private  in  Captain 
Benjamin  Burd's  company,  Fourth  Pennsylvania  Regiment,  commanded 
by  Colonel  Lambert  Cadwalader.  He  enlisted  February  1,  1777,  and  was 
promoted  to  sergeant  March  1,  1778. 


1 68  GENEALOGICAL. 

The  published  "  Pennsylvania  Archives  "  contains  several  references 
to  the  surname  "  McPike,"  during  the  period  circa  1780;  a  list  thereof 
was  printed  in  The  Celtic  Monthly,  Glasgow,  vol.  14,  page  170. 

Robert  McPike  enlisted  Feb.  5,  1776,  as  private  in  Captain  James 
Taylor's  company  of  Colonel  Wayne's  Pennsylvania  Battalion,  according 
to  the  "  Records  of  the  Revolutionary  War,"  by  W.  T.  R.  Saffell,  page 
202;  New  York,  1858. 

The  chief  sources  of  additional  data  concerning  the  families  of  Hal- 
ley,  Pike,  Pyke  and  McPike,  are  mentioned  below : 

New  York  Genealogical  and  Biographical  Record,  vol.  34,  page  55 ; 
ibid.  vol.  37,  page  237. 

"  Pennsylvania  Archives,"  second  series,  vol.  x.,  page  495. 

"  Tales  of  Our  Forefathers,"  Albany,  N.  Y.,  1898. 

The  "Old  Northwest"  Genealogical  Quarterly,  vol.  7,  pages  267; 
270. 

Notes  and  Queries,  London,  England,  ninth  series,  vol.  xi.,  pp.  205- 
206;  ibid,  tenth  series,  vol.  vii.,  pp.  263-264;  vol.  viii.,  pp.  44-45. 

"Remarks  on  Dr.  Edmond  Halley  "  (British  Museum,  press-mark 
10882  k.  25). 

Magazine  of  History,  New  York,  1906-1907.  ("Extracts  from 
British  Archives.") 

Unpublished  manuscripts  in  the  Museum  of  the  Newberry  Library, 
Chicago,  Illinois;  catalogue  No.  89030;  case  No.  II.,  31-2. 

Unpublished  letter  from  the  Record  and  Pension  Office,  War  De- 
partment, Washington,  D.  C,  dated  Feb.  26,  1900. 

IV.     Isaiah  Lyon  (1743-18 13). 

Isaiah  Lyon  appears  as  a  private  in  Captain  Samuel  McClellan's 
company,  of  Woodstock  ("  36  horses  rode  ")  during  the  Lexington  alarm 
in  April,  1775.  A  Hessian  gun  that  once  belonged  to  him  is  in  the  pos- 
session of  a  descendant.  He  was  probably  a  brother  of  Ephraim  Lyon, 
whose  grandson,  General  Nathaniel  Lyon  fell  at  the  battle  of  Wilson's 
Creek,  Missouri.  Isaiah  Lyon's  grandson,  Luther  Wells  Lyon,  Jim., 
( 1 802-1 885)  always  claimed  to  be  a  third  cousin  of  General  Lyon.    Their 


GENEALOGICAL. 


169 


respective  paternal  grandfathers  may  have  been  first  cousins  instead  of 
brothers.  A  large  amount  of  information  concerning  the  Lyon  family  of 
Connecticut  can  be  found  in  the  two  works  cited  below: 

"Lyon  Memorial,"  edited  by  Dr.  A.  B.  Lyons;  Detroit,  Mich., 
1905. 

New  York  Genealogical  and  Biographical  Record,  vol.  28,  pp.  75- 
79;  vol.  28,  pp.  235-237;  vol.  29,  pp.  98-100. 

FAMILY  RECORD 


Pike 

(Pyke)  = 


Miss  — 

Haley  Henry  Miss  — 

(Halley)         Guest=  Foreman 

or  Stewart 


Peter  (H)  Mary 
Dumont,=  Lowe, 
born  1744.      born  1750. 


James 
McPike 

(formerly 
Pike)  = 

I 
John 


Moses 

Guest,=  Lydia  Dumont 

born  1755 

Martha  •  Mountain 


Mountains  Lydia  Jane  Guest. 

McPike, 

born  5  Feb., 

1795,  at 

Wheeling, 

Virginia, 

Henry  Guest  McPike, 
born  in  Lawrenceburg, 
Dearborn  County,  Indiana. 
Mayor  of  Alton,  Illinois, 
circa  1887-1892. 


Eugene  F.  McPike. 


Chicago. 


THREE  EARLY  WASHINGTON  MONUMENTS 

AMONG  many  places  and  objects  seen  during  the  past  summer,  let 
me  speak  of  three  in  England  that  have  a  distinctly  American 
Lconnection  and  interest.  Each  of  them  is  far  out  of  the  busy 
world  of  to-day,  and  each  is  reached  by  a  delightful  ride  in  a  most 
serviceable  motor-carriage.  Our  first  excursion  was  from  Leamington 
to  Sulgrave.  No  one  whom  we  could  find  knew  anything  about  Sulgrave, 
and  we  had  no  map.  Sulgrave  is  ignored  by  small  maps  as  I  have  found 
them.  Any  one  who  thinks  that  there  is  no  research  involved  in  such 
a  hunt  for  historic  evidence  should  inquire  and  find  the  way  over  the 
five  and  twenty  or  thirty  miles  of  country  between  the  two  places.  We 
headed  for  Banbury,  somewhere  beyond  which  was  our  destination,  and 
we  reached  that  interesting  old  town,  perhaps  two-thirds  of  our  way, 
before  we  gained  definite  information.  Then  we  had  a  clue  from  sign- 
boards bearing  the  name,  and  in  good  time  we  reached  the  end  of  our 
journey. 

Sulgrave  is  a  small,  very  secluded,  and  quiet  village.  On  slightly 
rising  ground  stands  its  little  old  church,  from  which  gently  slopes  its 
one  street  lined  by  irregularly  placed  low  gray  houses.  At  the  farther 
end,  to  the  right  and  back  from  the  streets,  stands  the  manor  house,  long 
ago  the  home  of  the  Washingtons.  It  is  irregularly  square,  with  two 
stories  and  gables,  built  of  small  stones,  with  quoins  of  larger  stones  now 
gray  except  on  what  might  be  called  the  front,  which  is  yellowish  rough- 
cast. At  the  left  of  this  front  is  a  projecting  part  with  a  Tudor-arched 
door,  and  a  gable  in  the  apex  of  which,  dimly  seen,  are  the  Washington 
arms,  covered  by  glass  and  put  out  of  harm's  way  and  acquisitive  reach. 
It  has  been  proved  that  there  is  need  enough  of  precaution.  The  roof  of 
the  house  is  of  flat  stones,  dark  and  lichenous. 

Adjoining  the  house,  to  the  right,  enclosed  by  an  old  stone  wall,  is 
a  garden  with  vegetables  and  flowers.     Most  of  the  side  of  the  house 
toward   it   is   mantled  with   ivy.      On   the   opposite   side   of  the   house, 
and  also  adjoining  it,  is  a  barnyard.     The  building,   indeed,   is  now  a 
farmhouse,   of  an  estate   of  one  hundred   and  ninety-three   acres.      All 

— Read  before  the  Massachusetts  Historical   Society. 

170 


THREE     EARLY     WASHINGTON     MONUMENTS.  171 

around,  and  on  two  sides  reaching  the  house,  are  fields;  and  farther  back 
is  rural  prospect.  In  the  lower  story,  with  windows  on  the  garden  side 
and  the  front,  is  a  square  room  with  a  flat  ceiling  crossed  at  right  angles 
by  two  very  dark  beams  that  thus  form  a  cross.  On  the  inner  side  is  a 
large  fireplace;  on  another  is  a  four-bay,  square-headed  window.  It  is 
a  simple,  good-sized  comfortable  room,  quaint  but  not  fine.  Over  it  is  a 
square  chamber,  even  plainer,  with  the  ceiling  rising  part  way  on  the 
slope  of  the  roof,  and  with  a  floor  of  old  wide  boards,  now  dark.  In; 
this  room,  we  were  told,  Lawrence,  ancestor  of  George  Washington, 
was  born. 

The  lineage  of  Lawrence  Washington  in  America  was  for  a  long 
time  known  distinct  to  the  sea,  but  the  English  connection  was  not  found 
until  1884  or  1885,  when  Mr.  Henry  F.  Waters,  in  his  important 
researches,  discovered  it,  a  successful  close  being  reached,  he  tells  us,  on 
June  3,  1889.1  The  result  is  the  more  notable  since  the  name,  as  he 
also  shows  us,  is  found  in  nineteen  counties  that  he  mentions.  From 
President  George  Washington  the  line  seems  clearly  traced  throughj 
Augustine  and  Lawrence  to  John,  who  came  to  Virginia  in  1633  or  1634, 
and  from  him  to  Lawrence  of  Sulgrave  and  Brington,  son  of  Robert, 
son  of  Lawrence,  grantee  of  Sulgrave,  who  died  19th  of  February,  26th 
of  Elizabeth,  1584.  Robert  "  of  Sulgrave  Esq.,"  jointly  with  Lawrence 
(son),  sold  Sulgrave  "  8  Jac."  (1611). 

Visiting  Sulgrave,  we  are  impressed  both  by  its  characteristics  and 
its  wide  contrast  with  Mount  Vernon,  and  also  by  certain  transmitted 
qualities.  Sulgrave,  in  size  and  style  not  one  of  the  lordly  rural  English 
class,  not  the  seat  of  high  rank  and  fortune,  but  the  home  of  a  substantial 
squire,  is  solid  and  enduring,  centuries  old  and  yet  strong  enough  to  last 
through  more.  On  its  low,  secluded  site,  it  has  none  of  the  lordly,  com- 
manding position  and  aspect  of  the  house  that  overlooks  the  broad  green 
slopes  and  the  wide  sweep  of  the  Potomac.  Yet,  if  well  cared  for,  its 
endurance  may  fully  match  that  of  the  Am.erican  mansion.  Each  of 
the  houses  was  the  home  of  solid  worth  and  of  good  old  English  quali- 
ties. At  Sulgrave  we  are  impressed  by  the  wonder  that  from  it,  secluded 
and  quiet  as  it  is  and  always  must  have  been,  grew  the  life  and  the  name 
now  a  continental  household  word  and  a  world-wide  glory. 

There  is  something  else  to  see  in  this  small  village.  It  is  the  small 
church,  mentioned   above,   built  of  small  gray  stones,  with  a  low  and 

1  Henry    F.    Waters,    "  Genealogical    Gleanings    in    England,"    364. 


172  THREE     EARLY     WASHINGTON     MONUMENTS. 

stout  tower  at  its  western  end,  that  internally  is  open  to  a  nave  of  four 
bays  with  aisles,  and  a  chancel.  The  roofs  are  of  dark,  open-timber  work. 
At  the  eastern  end  of  the  south  aisle,  in  the  floor,  is  the  Washington 
memorial, — no  modern  thing,  but  old  evidence  that  the  Washingtons 
worshipped  there. 

In  his  will,  proved  January  3,  1620,  Robert  "  of  Souldgrave  "  states 
that  he  is  "  to  be  buried  in  the  South  Aisle  of  the  church  before  my  seat 
where  I  usually  sit,  under  the  same  stone  that  my  father  lieth  buried."  1 
The  stone,  a  large  one,  now  bears  a  brass  with  three  long  lines  of  inscrip- 
tion in  small  black  letter  including  the  date  1564  (?).  Other  and  im- 
portant brass  plates,  the  sockets  for  which  are  seen,  have  disappeared. 
There  were  six  plates  let  into  the  stone,  one  of  them  with  figures  of  four 
sons,  and  another  of  four  daughters.  On  or  about  August  10,  1889, 
two  strangers  "  in  gentlemanly  attire  "  visited  the  church,  and  then  they 
and  most  of  the  brasses  disappeared.2  Two  thieves  escaped.  Not  all 
of  the  barbarians  were  active  during  the  decline  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

It  may  be  added  that  during  our  long  drive  of  some  fifty-five  miles 
we  passed  hardly  a  village,  and  few  houses  for  a  central  part  of  a  densely 
inhabited  country,  and  also  few  vehicles.  The  one  exceptional  place  was 
Banbury,  a  large  and  interesting  town,  with  a  tall  and  elegant  Gothic 
cross,  restored  and  in  good  order.  The  country  traversed  is  rural,  un- 
dulating, moderately  wooded,  with  some  considerable  hills  where  the 
winding  road  has  really  long  ascents  and  descents.  Everywhere  is  old 
English  rural  beauty. 

Our  next  drive  to  a  Washington  monument  was  from  Cheltenham, 
and  was  even  more  varied  and  beautiful.  Crossing  the  northerly  part 
of  the  Cleve  hills,  that  commands  a  wide  and  magnificent  view  of  low- 
lands and  of  the  Malvern  and  Welsh  hills, — all  far  higher  and  bolder 
than  our  Blue  hills, — we  thence  dove  into  a  deep  valley  and  passed  through 
the  picturesque  and  very  old  English  town  of  Winchcombe,  long,  stone- 
built,  and  gray.  Sixteen  miles  of  drive  brought  us  to  Broadway,  a  village 
with  an  unusually  wide  street  that  may  have  given  the  name,  or  that  may 
have  come  from  the  Broadways,  an  old  family  of  this  region.  The 
street  is  lined  by  stone  or  rough-cast  houses,  midway  among  which  is  the 
Lygon  Arms,  originally  the  "  Whyte  Harte,"  ranking  among  the  very 
old,  quaint,  and  good  English  inns.    It  has  two  stories,  built  of  cut  stone, 

1  Henry   F.   Waters,    "  Genealogical    Gleanings    in    England,"    377. 

2  Ibid,  397. 


THREE     EARLY     WASHINGTON     MONUMENTS.  1 73 

with  four  gables,  and  a  Jacobean  style  of  stone  doorway  dated  1620.  In 
the  days  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  it  was  flourishing,  and  it  is  also  to-day 
in  the  era  of  the  motor,  that  has  revived  or  maintained  not  a  few  of  the 
out-of-the-way  houses;  and  there  is  pleasant  life  in  its  well-kept,  oak- 
lined,  and  oak-ceiled  rooms,  that  were  probably  known  to  some  of  the 
Washingtons.  From  there  we  drove  a  few  miles  to  Wickhamford,  which 
has  a  Washington  monument. 

Wickhamford  is  a  small  and  very  retired  hamlet  of  small  brick 
houses,  a  few  of  them  modern,  others  old  and  thatched.  At  one  side 
stands  the  manor  house  of  brick,  with  gables,  and  now  washed  a  yellowish 
color.  Adjoining  it  is  the  churchyard,  and  in  that  the  church,  rough-cast 
on  the  outside,  which  is  small,  built  of  smoothly  cut  stones,  now  gray, 
with  a  small,  square  west  tower,  and  a  south  porch,  also  small,  as  are 
the  nave  and  chancel.  Internally  the  nave  has  a  double-pitch  framed 
roof,  and  the  chancel  a  three-faced  plastered  ceiling.  This  is  where  the 
Washingtons  of  the  Sulgrave  line  also  worshiped.  Along  the  north  side 
of  the  chancel  are  two  canopied  tombs  of  a  sort  that  surprise  us  in  out- 
of-the-way  places  in  England.  They  are  in  elaborate  Jacobean  style. 
Each  has  two  recumbent  figures  of  members  of  the  Sandys  family;  their 
dates  are  1629  and  1680.  The  great  object  of  interest  is,  however,  a 
large  oblong  slab  of  slate,  the  foot  of  which  touches  the  eastern  wall  of 
the  chancel  under  the  altar  table.  At  its  top  are  cut  the  Washington 
arms,  a  suggestion  of  the  American  flag, — three  stars  above  two  bars,  or 
bands.     Under  these  is  a  long  inscription,  beginning: 

M.  S. 

PENELOPES 

Filiae  perillustris  &  militari  virtute  clarissimi 

Hendrici  Washington  collonelli 

Gulielmo  Washington  ex  agro  Northanton. 

Milite  prognati. 

Nineteen  lines  follow,  in  the  last  of  which  is  the  date  of  the  lady's  death, 
"  Feb.  27,  1697."  She  was  unmarried,  daughter  of  Henry,  colonel  in 
the  Royalist  army,  son  of  Sir  William,  who  was  son  of  Lawrence  of 
Sulgrave,  who  died  on  December  13,  1616.1 

Here  again  we  find  an  example  of  the  rural  seclusion,  as  well  as 
good  position,  in  which  members  of  George  Washington's  family  lived 

1  Henry    F.    Waters,    "  Genealogical    Gleanings    in    England,"    385. 


174 


THREE     EARLY     WASHINGTON     MONUMENTS. 


in  England,  and  of  places  with  which  they  were  familiar  that  remain 
substantially  unchanged  to  our  time.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  search  old 
records  or  printed  leaves  to  learn  more  about  persons  and  things  past; 
and  it  is,  perhaps,  an  even  greater  pleasure  to  search  for  and  visit  the 
monumental,  visible  records  of  the  valued  past.  Many  facts  are,  or  only 
can  be,  preserved  by  written  or  printed  statement.  It  would,  however, 
be  a  rare  written  or  printed  account  that  would,  for  instance,  give  as 
clear  evidence  of  the  life  of  the  early  Washingtons  as  is  given  by  the 
old  house  at  Sulgrave. 

James  F.  Hunnewell. 

Boston. 


ORIGINAL    DOCUMENTS 

LETTER  OF  COL.  THEODORICK  BLAND  TO  THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

[Letter  of  Col.  Theodorick  Bland,  Virginia  delegate  to  the  Old  Congress,  to  Thomas 
Jefferson  (also  signed  by  Joseph  Jones.  Really  an  official  letter  of  the  Virginia  House  of  Dele- 
gates to  Jefferson  as  Governor  of  the  State.) 

An  important  historical  letter,  giving  news  of  the  war,  and  describing  naval  and  mili- 
tary movements.  It  is  dated  June,  1781.  At  this  time  La  Fayette  was  watching  and  follow- 
ing Cornwallis  in  Virginia  and  every  effort  was  making  to  raise  militia  for  his  reinforcement.] 

Dear  Sir  : — We  enclose  you  a  copy  of  a  Bill  sent  me  by  Mr.  Brax- 
ton 1  for  the  balance  of  the  warrant  he  received  from  me  last  December 
— this  payment  is  ab.  £1000  short  of  the  true  balance,  and  was  by  agree- 
ment with  Mr.  Jones  to  have  been  made  the  last  week  in  April.  We  pre- 
sented the  Bill  to  the  (illegible)  who  told  us  they  would  accept  it  and  pay 
it  in  the  (illegible) — the  Bill  requires  payment  either  in  old  continental 
money  or  of  the  new  emission,  but  your  Excellency  knows  that  if  paid  in 
the  first  the  State  will  be  a  considerable  loser,  and  if  in  any  of  the  new 
emissions,  unless  of  this  State,  the  money  will  be  wholly  useless  to  us — we 
have  therefore,  great  as  our  distress  is  for  supplies,  declined  taking  an 
acceptance,  and  expect  Mr.  Braxton  will  take  some  course  to  remit  us  the 
value  of  the  money. — the  latter  end  of  April,  or  account  with  the  State  for 
it  upon  just  and  equitable  principles.  We  thought  it  proper  to  give  you 
this  communication,  that  the  Assembly  might  know  we  have  not  received 
the  whole  of  the  warrant  obtained  by  Mr.  Jones  in  December  for  the  use 
of  the  Delegates,  and  that  if  Mr.  Braxton  is  present  some  immediate 
course  may  be  taken  by  him  to  render  us  value  or  restore  the  value  to  the 
State. 

The  public  letter  will  give  your  Excellency  information  of  the  pro- 
posed mediation  of  the  two  Imperial  Courts.  We  may  add  that  we  have 
received  information  of  the  arrival  at  Martinique  of  the  Count  de  Grasse 
with  the  French  Fleet,  and  the  day  of  his  arrival  engaging  the  British 
Fleet  and  forcing  them  to  run  into  port.  It  is  also  said  four  ships  of  war 
(their  force  uncertain)  with  some  transports  having  troops  on  board  left 
the  Grand  fleet  for  the  continent.      If  it  be  true  they  must  be  arrived  by 

l  Probably  Carter  Braxton,  Signer  of  the  Declaration. 

175 


I76  ORIGINAL     DOCUMENTS. 

this  time,  and  although  not  so  considerable  an  aid  as  we  had  reason  to 
expect,  will,  we  hope  be  sufficient  to  enable  the  Fleet  of  our  Ally  to  go  to 
Sea  upon  equal  if  not  advantageous  terms. 

The  Delegates  have  done  all  they  could  to  hasten  (illegible)  as  well 
as  to  forward  other  assistance  to  our  .  .  .  foreseeing  what  occasion 
you  would  have  for  aid;  but  can  only  get  the  .  .  .  Under  march  very 
lately,  and  a  resolution  a  few  days  past  to  send  forward  some  militia  from 
this  State  and  our  neighbor  Maryland.2  Your  situation  no  doubt  you 
have  communicated  to  the  Com'r  in  Chief,  and  must  refer  you  to  him 
for  such  consolations  he  has  in  prospect — the  Delegates'  endeavour  to 
second  your  efforts  in  that  quarter  have  not  been  wanting  and  we  have  no 
doubt  the  General  will  do  all  in  his  Power. 

We  are  with  great  respect  your  Excellency's  obdt  Servts 

Jos.  Jones 

2  Seven  battalions  of  militia  Infantry,  including  160  horse.  1  HED  K   BLAND. 


EXTRACTS   FROM   THE 
VALLEY  FORGE  ORDERLY  BOOK  KEPT  BY  MAJOR  PRESLEY  NEVILLE. 

Major  Presley  Neville  was  Aide  to  Lafayette  in  1778.  He  was 
taken  prisoner  at  Charleston,  May  12,  1780;  was  on  parole  until  ex- 
changed in  178 1,  and  served  to  the  close  of  the  war  as  brigade  inspector. 
Died  Dec.  1,  1818. 

This  highly  interesting  orderly  book,  or  relic  of  Valley  Forge,  May 
4th  to  13th,  1778,  written  immediately  after  the  hard  and  memorable 
winter  of  1778,  which  was  the  most  severe  experienced  by  the  Con- 
tinental Army,  gives  the  full  and  very  interesting  orders  of  General 
Washington,  in  reference  to  administering  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  his 
small,  but  tried  and  true,  army.  The  following  officers  were  designated 
to  administer  the  oath: 

Majr.  Genl.  Ld.  Stirling  to  ye  Officers  of  late  Conway's  Brigade. 

Majr.  Genl.  Marquis  de  la  Fayette  to  those  of  Woodford's  and  Scott's. 

Majr.  Genl.  Baron  de  Kalb  to  those  of  Glover's  and  Learned's  Brigades. 

Brig.  Genl.  Maxwell  to  those  of  his  own  Brigade. 

Brig.  Genl.  Knox  to  those  of  the  Artillery  in  Camp  and  Military  Stores. 

Brig.  Genl.  Poor  to  those  of  his  own  Brigade. 

Brig.  Genl.  Varnum  to  those  of  his  own  and  Huntington's  Brigades. 

Brig.  Genl.  Paterson  to  those  of  his  own  Brigade. 

Brig.  Genl.  Wayne  to  the  1st  and  2d  Pens.  Brigade.     Etc. 


ORIGINAL     DOCUMENTS.  177 

Probably  the  most  interesting  feature  of  the  book  is  the  orders  to 
the  army  as  to  their  duties  and  position  in  the  parade  to  be  made  in 
honor  of  the  Treaty  of  Alliance  between  the  United  States  and  France. 
The  first  page  of  this  has  been  lost,  but  enough  remains  to  make  it  of 
great  importance.     We  quote  a  portion : 

"A  third  Signal  will  be  given  upon  which  there  will  be  a  discharge  of  thirteen 
Canon,  when  the  13th  is  fired  running  Fire  of  the  Infantry  will  begin  in  the  2d  of 
Woodford's,  and  continue  throughout  the  whole  front  line,  it  will  then  be  taken  up- 
on  the  left  of  the  second  Line  and  continue  to  the  2d,  upon  a  signal  given  the  whole 
Army  will  Huzza  LONG  LIVE  THE  KING  OF  FRANCE.  The  Artillery  then 
begins  again  &  fires  thirteen  rounds,  this  will  be  received  by  a  second  general  dis- 
charge of  Musqetery  in  running  Fire,  Huzza  and  long  live  the  Friendly  European 
Powers,  then  the  last  discharge  of  13  Pieces  will  be  given  followed  by  a  general  run- 
ning fire  and  Huzza  to  the  American  States.  There  will  be  no  Exercise  in  the 
Morning  and  the  Guards  of  the  day  will  not  parade  till  the  Fire  de  Joy  is  finished 
when  the  Brig.  Majr.  will  march  them  out  to  the  grand  Parade  the  Adjt.  then  tell 
off  their  Battalion  into  8  Plattoons  &  the  Comd.  Officers  conduct  them  to  their 
Camps  marching  by  the  left. — Maj.  Genl.  Lord  Stirling  will  comd.  the  rt.  M.  G. 
the  Marquis  de  la  Fayette  the  Left,  and  Baron  de  Kalb  the  2d  Line,  each  M.  Gen. 
will  conduct  the  first  Brigade  of  his  Command  to  its  grounds."     Etc. 


EXTRACTS   FROM  THE  JOURNAL  OF  THOMAS   RODNEY,   COLONEL  IN  THE 
REVOLUTION,  JURIST,  AND  MEMBER  OF  THE  CONTINENTAL  CONGRESS. 

This  journal,  August  16,  1796,  to  April  12,  1797,  is  of  great  his- 
torical importance.  Although  kept  in  the  form  of  a  diary,  noting  the 
condition  of  the  weather  from  day  to  day,  he  jots  down,  under  each  day, 
occurrences  in  the  corresponding  period  during  the  Revolution.  Occur- 
rences with  which  he  was  especially  familiar,  and  in  this  way  brings  to 
light  and  saves  to  posterity  many  facts  of  great  importance  relating  to 
the  Revolution,  which  would  likely  have  been  lost  to  posterity.  He  also 
gives  many  interesting  anecdotes  of  the  great  men  of  that  time,  and  ap- 
pears to  have  been  especially  friendly  towards  Washington.  From  his 
language  it  appears  that  he  was  very  prominent  in  the  counsels  of  the 
guiding  minds  of  those  trying  times.  As  a  specimen  of  the  character  of 
the  work,  we  quote  the  following : 

"Tuesday,  January  3d,  1797.  When  I  got  up  this  morning  the  ground  was 
covered  with  snow  &  still  Snowing  with  very  little  wind  from  N.  E. — Just  after 
Breakfast  rec'd  a  card  from  J.  M.  with  an  Invitation  to  a  Tea  party  this  Evening. — 


178  MINOR     TOPICS. 

This  is  the  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Prince  Town  1777. — That  glorious  Battle 
which  Fixed  the  fate  of  America,  I  lead  the  Van  of  the  American  Army  that  awful 
night,  from  Trenton  to  Princeton.  The  Papers  this  Evening  brought  Intelligence 
that  Genl.  A.  Wayne,  Commander  in  Chief  of  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  Died 
at  Presque  Isle,  in  Lake  Erie,  on  the  14th  of  December,  with  the  Gout,  he  was  one 
of  the  most  Intrepid  &  Active  Generals  of  the  Revolution,  &  the  Galant  Taker  of 
Stony  point."     Etc. 

This  is  one  of  the  very  many  interesting  entries  similar  to  it.  The 
book  is  also  replete  with  his  comments  on  the  actions  of  the  various 
shining  lights  of  the  Revolution,  both  in  the  field  and  the  Halls  of  Con- 
gress, and  he  gives  a  very  exhaustive  history  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  with  a  valuable  commentary  upon  the  same. 


MINOR    TOPICS 


THE   QUEBEC    BATTLEFIELDS:    AN   APPEAL   TO    HISTORY 

I 

F~    """^HE  Plains  of  Abraham  stand  alone  among  the  world's  immortal 
battlefields  as  the  place  where  an  empire  was  lost  and  won  in 
JL       the  first  clash  of  arms,  the  balance  of  victory  was  redressed  in  the 
second,  and  the  honor  of  each  army  was  heightened  in  both. 

Famous  as  they  are,  however,  the  Plains  are  not  the  only  battlefield 
at  Quebec,  nor  even  the  only  one  that  is  a  source  of  pride  to  the  French- 
and  English-speaking  peoples.  In  less  than  a  century  Americans,  British, 
French  and  French-Canadians  took  part  in  four  sieges  and  five  battles. 
There  were  decisive  actions;  but  the  losing  side  was  never  disgraced,  and 
the  winning  side  was  always  composed  of  allied  forces  who  shared  the 
triumph  among  them.  American  Rangers  accompanied  Wolfe,  and 
French-Canadians  helped  Carllton  to  save  the  future  Dominion;  while 
French  and  French-Canadians  together  won  the  day  under  Frontenac, 
under  Montcalm  at  Montmorency,  and  under  Levis  at  Ste.  Foy. 

There  is  no  record  known — nor  even  any  legend  in  tradition — of  so 
many  momentous  feats  of  arms  performed,  on  land  and  water,  by  fleets 
and  armies  of  so  many  different  peoples,  with  so  much  alternate  victory 
and  such  honor  in  defeat,  and  all  within  a  single  scene.  And  so  it  is  no 
exaggeration  of  this  commemorative  hour,  but  the  lasting,  well-authenti- 
cated truth  to  say  that,  take  them  for  all  in  all,  the  fields  of  battle  at 
Quebec  are  quite  unique  in  universal  history. 


MINOR    TOPICS.  179 

II 

In  June,  Admiral  Saunders  led  up  the  St.  Lawrence  the  greatest  fleet 
then  afloat  in  the  world.  Saunders  was  a  star  of  the  service  even  among 
the  galaxy  then  renowed  at  sea.  With  him  were  the  future  Lord  St. 
Vincent,  the  future  Captain  Cook,  who  made  the  first  British  chart  of  the 
River,  and  several  more  who  rose  to  high  distinction.  His  fleet  com- 
prised a  quarter  of  the  whole  Royal  Navy;  and,  with  its  convoy,  num- 
bered 277  sail  of  every  kind.  Splendidly  navigated  by  twice  as  many 
seamen  as  Wolfe's  9000  soldiers,  it  held  the  River  eastward  with  one 
hand,  while,  with  the  other,  it  made  the  besiegers  an  amphibious  force. 

Wolfe,  worn  out,  half  despairing,  twice  repulsed,  at  last  saw  his 
chance.  Planning  and  acting  entirely  on  his  own  initiative  he  crowned 
three  days  of  finely  combined  manoeuvres,  on  land  and  water,  over  a  front 
of  thirty  miles,  by  the  consummate  stratagem  which  placed  the  first  of  all 
two-deep  thin  red  lines  across  the  Plains  of  Abraham  exactly  at  the  favor- 
able moment.  And  who  that  knows  battle  and  battfield  knows  of  another 
scene  and  setting  like  this  one  on  that  13th  morning  of  September? 

For  the  westward  river  gate  led  on  to  the  labyrinthine  waterways 
of  all  America,  while  the  eastward  stood  more  open  still — flung  wide  to 
all  the  Seven  Seas. 

Meanwhile,  Montcalm  had  done  all  he  could  against  false  friends 
and  open  enemies.  He  had  repulsed  Wolfe's  assault  at  Montmorency 
and  checkmated  every  move  he  could  divine  through  the  nearly  impene- 
trable screen  of  the  British  fleet. 

Never  were  stancher  champions  than  those  two  leaders  and  their  six 
brigadiers.  "  Let  us  remember  how,  on  the  victorious  side,  the  young 
commander  was  killed  in  the  forefront  of  the  fight;  how  his  successor  was 
wounded  at  the  head  of  his  brigade;  and  how  the  command-in-chief  passed 
from  hand  to  hand,  with  bewildering  rapidity,  till  each  of  the  four  British 
Generals  had  held  it  in  turn  during  the  space  of  one  short  half-hour;  then, 
how  the  devotion  of  the  four  Generals  on  the  other  side  was  even  more 
conspicuous,  since  every  single  one  of  these  brave  men  laid  down  his  life 
to  save  the  day  for  France ;  and,  above  all,  let  us  remember  how  lasting 
the  twin  renown  of  Wolfe  and  Montcalm  themselves  should  be;  when  the 
one  was  so  consummate  in  his  victory,  and  the  other  so  truly  glorious  in 
defeat." 

The  next  year  saw  the  second  battle  of  the  Plains,  when  Levis 
marched  down  from  Montreal,  over  the  almost  impassable  spring  roads, 
and  beat  back  Murray  within  the  walls,  after  a  very  desperate  and  bloody 


l8o  MINOR    TOPICS. 

fight.  Levis  himself  was  meanwhile  preparing  to  advance  on  Quebec 
in  force;  when  a  prisoner,  who  had  just  been  taken,  told  him  these 
vessels  were  the  vanguard  of  the  British  fleet !  Of  course,  he  raised  the 
siege  at  once,  But  he  retired  unconquered;  and  Vauquelin  covered  his 
line  of  retreat  by  water  as  gallantly  as  he  had  made  his  own  advance  by 
land.     Thus  France  left  Quebec  with  all  the  honors  of  war. 

ill. 
Is  it  to  be  thought  of  that  we  should  fail  to  dedicate  what  our  fore- 
fathers have  so  consecrated  as  the  one  field  of  glory  common  to  us  all? 
Remember,  there  is  no  question  of  barring  modern  progress — the  energy 
for  which  we  inherit  from  these  very  ancestors.  No  town  should  ever 
be  made  a  mere  "  show  place,"  devoted  to  the  pettier  kinds  of  touristry 
and  dilettante  antiquarian  delight.  But  Quebec  has  room  to  set  aside 
the  most  typical  spots  for  commemoration,  and  this  on  the  sound  business 
principle  of  putting  every  site  to  its  most  efficient  use.  So  there  remains 
nothing  beyond  the  time  and  trouble  and  expense  of  making  what  will 
become,  in  fact  and  name,  battlefield  park.  This  will  include 
the  best  of  what  must  always  be  known  as  the  Plains  of  Abraham,  and 
the  best  of  every  other  center  of  action  that  can  be  preserved  in  whole, 
or  part,  or  only  in  souvenir  by  means  of  a  tablet.  Appropriate  places 
within  these  limits  could  be  chosen  to  commemorate  the  names  of  eleven 
historic  characters:  Champlain,  who  founded  Canada;  Montcalm, 
Wolfe,  Levis,  Murray,  Saunders  and  Vauquelin,  who  fought  for  her; 
Cook  and  Bougainville,  the  circumnavigators,  who  did  her  yeoman 
service;  and  Frontenac  and  Carleton  who  saved  her  in  different  ways, 
but  to  the  same  end. 

High  above  all,  on  the  calm  central  summit,  the  Angel  of  Peace, 
folding  her  wings  to  rest,  will  stand  in  benediction  of  the  scene.  In  her 
blest  presence  the  heirs  of  a  fame  told  round  the  world  in  French  and 
English  speech  can  dwell  upon  a  bounteous  view  that  has  long  forgotten 
the  strange,  grim  face  of  war.  And  yet  .  .  .  the  statue  rests  on  a 
field  of  battle,  and  their  own  peace  on  ancestral  prowess.  The  very 
ground  reminds  them  of  supreme  ordeals.  And  though,  in  mere  size, 
it  is  no  more,  to  the  whole  vast  bulk  of  Canada,  than  the  flag  is  to  a 
man-of-war,  yet,  like  the  flag,  it  is  the  sign  and  symbol  of  a  people's  soul. 

QUEBEC   CHRONOLOGY   FROM  THE    l6TH  TO  THE   20TH   CENTURIES 

1535.  Jacques-Cartier  enters  the  St.  Charles  River  and  winters  beside 
the  Indian  village  of  Stadacona,  the  site  of  which  is  now  in- 
cluded in  the  City  of  Quebec. 


MINOR    TOPICS.  l8l 

1608.     Champlain  founds  Canada  by  building  his  Ahitacion  at  Quebec. 

1629.  The  Kirkes  take  Quebec,  in  the  name  of  Charles  I.  of  England, 
who  holds  it  three  years  in  pledge  for  the  dowry  of  his  Queen, 
Henrietta  Maria  of  France,  and  who  grants  his  friend,  Sir 
William  Alexander,  "  The  County  and  Lordship  of  Canada!" 

1632.     Quebec  restored  to  France. 

1635.  Champlain  dies  on  Christmas  Day,  just  a  century  after  the 
landing  of  Jacques-Cartier.  Quebec  contains  hardly  a  hun- 
dred souls,  and  only  three  small  public  buildings:  the  store 
belonging  to  the  trading  company  of  the  Cent  Associes,  Fort 
St.  Louis,  on  the  site  of  the  present  Chateau  Frontenac  Hotel, 
and  the  parish  church  of  Notre  Dame  de  la  Recouvrance,  on 
the  site  of  the  present  Basilica. 

1660-3.  Canada  threatened  with  extermination  by  Indians,  by  famine, 
by  the  complete  downfall  of  the  whole  Colony,  and  by  the  most 
terrible  earthquakes  in  her  history. 

1665.  The  new  Royal  Governor,  de  Courcelles,  arrives,  his  Lieutenant 
and  Commander-in-Chief,  the  Marquis  de  Tracy,  the  great 
Intendant,  Jean  Talon,  212  persons  of  title  or  fortune,  12  com- 
panies of  French  Regulars,  and  many  settlers  who  became 
known  as  habitants. 

1672.     Frontenac  arrives  and  governs  Canada  ten  years. 

1689.  Frontenac  returns  for  nine  years. 

1690.  Frontenac  repulses  Phips  and  his  New  England  armada. 
1692.     Frontenac  builds  the  first  walls  round  Quebec. 

17 II.     Sir  Hovenden  Walker  wrecked  on  his  way  to  attack  Quebec. 
1755-60.     Complete  inefficiency  under  the  Governor-General  Yaudreuil, 
and  corruption  under  the  Intendant,  Bigot. 

1759.  Siege  of  Quebec  and  Battle  of  the  Plains  of  Abraham. 

1760.  Levis  defeats  Murray  in  the  second  battle  on  the  Plains,  and  in 

i860  a  monument  was  erected  Aux  Braves  who  redressed  the 
balance  of  victory  in  favor  of  France. 

1763.  Just  100  years  after  declaring  Canada  the  Royal  Province  of 
New  France  the  French  Crown  cedes  the  sovereignty  to  George 
III. 

1774.     The  Quebec  Act  passed  by  the  Imperial  Parliament. 

1775-6.  French  and  English,  under  Carleton,  defeat  the  American  in- 
vaders under  Montgomery  and  Arnold. 

1792.     The  first  Parliament  in  Greater  Britain  opened  at  Quebec. 


1 82  MINOR    TOPICS. 

1812.  Quebec  sends  her  full  quota  to  repel  the  American  invasion  of 
Canada. 

1823.  The  present  Citadel  and  walls,  built  after  a  plan  approved  by 

Wellington,  and  completed  in  1832. 

1824.  The  Literary  and  Historical  Society  of  Quebec  founded. 
1833.     In  August  the  Royal  William,  built  in  and  sailing  from  Quebec, 

makes  the  first  of  all  Transatlantic  voyages  entirely  under 
steam.  Under  her  new  name,  Isabella  Segunda,  she  was  the 
first  steamer  in  the  zvorld  to  fire  a  shot  in  action,  on  the  5th 
of  May,  1836,  in  the  Bay  of  Sebastian,  Spain,  when  helping 
Sir  de  Lacy  Evans's  British  Legion  against  the  Carlists. 

1867.     The  Dominion  of  Canada  proclaimed  at  Quebec. 

1870.      Second  Fenian  Raid — Quebec  again  under  arms. 

1870.  The  Red  River  Expedition  under  Field  Marshal  Viscount  Wolse- 
ley  has  a  contingent  from  Quebec. 

1884.  Canadian    Voyageurs    for   the   Nile   Expedition    rendezvous    at 

Quebec. 

1885.  The  Royal  Canadian  Artillery  and  9th  Regiment,  Voltigeurs  de 

Quebec,  leave  for  the  front  during  the  North  West  Rebellion. 

1899.  The  First  Canadian  Contingent  for  the  South  African  War  em- 
barks at  Quebec. 

1902.  The  Canadian  Coronation  Contingent  parades  to  embark  at 
Quebec.  (France  sends  the  Montcalm  to  the  Coronation 
Naval  Review  in  England.) 

1905.  Lord  Grey  unveils  the  statue  to  those  Quebecers  who  died  in 
South  Africa: 

FOR  EMPIRE,   CANADA,  QUEBEC 

Not  by  the  power  of  commerce,  art,  or  pen 

Shall  this  great  Empire  stand;  .nor  has  it  stood; 

But  by  the  noble  deeds  of  noble  men, 

Heroic  lives,  and  Heroes'  outpoured  blood. 

1908.     Tercentenary   of  the   foundation  of   Canada  by   Champlain   at 

Quebec. 
1908.     The  national  foundation  of  Battlefield  Park. 

(Condensed  from  pamphlet  just  issued  by  the  Quebec  Battlefield 
Association) . 


MINOR    TOPICS.  183 

MORE    OF    THE    LEVANT. 

Navy  Department,  Library  and  War  Records, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Magazine  of  History: 

Dear  Sir: — In  reply  to  your  letter  requesting  the  record  of  the 
Levant,  I  have  the  honor  to  send  the  following: 

The  original  Levant  was  captured  by  the  Constitution,  Capt.  Charles 
Stewart  commanding,  on  February  20,  18 15,  off  Madeira.  First  Lieu- 
tenant H.  E.  Ballard  was  put  in  command  of  the  prize  which  was  subse- 
quently recaptured  by  the  British  squadron  under  Sir  George^Collier  in 
the  neutral  harbor  of  Port  Praya,  Island  of  Santiago,  on  March  11,  1 8 1 5 . 
No  record  is  found  regarding  the  disposition  by  the  British  of  this  vessel. 
Application  to  the  British  Admiralty  might  secure  you  the  information. 

The  Levant  (No.  2)  was  built  in  1837,  commissioned  in  1838,  and 
was  in  service  until — as  supposed — lost  at  sea  with  all  on  board.  On  her 
last  cruise  she  sailed  on  or  about  September  18,  i860,  and  the  date  as- 
sumed as  the  legal  date  of  her  loss  was  June  30,  1861. 

The  following  named  officers  went  down  with  her: 

Commander  Wm.  E.  Hunt. 

Lieutenants,  W.  C.  B.  S.  Porter,  E.  C.  Stout,  Colville  Ter- 

rett,  and  R.  T.  Bowen. 
Passed  Assistant  Surgeon,  J.  S.  Gilliam. 
Assistant  Surgeon,  William  Bradley. 
Purser,  Andrew  J.  Watson. 
Master,  James  C.  Mosely. 
First  Lieutenant  Marines,  R.  L.  Browning. 
Acting  Boatswain,  Harrison  Edmonston. 
Gunner,  Robert  S.  King. 
Carpenter,  John  Jarvis. 
Sailmaker,  Charles  S.  Frost. 

In  reply  to  your  request  for  a  list  of  naval  vessels  since  1800  that 
have  never  been  heard  from  after  sailing,  I  have  to  inform  you  that  I 
do  not  know  that  such  a  list  has  ever  been  compiled.  A  partial  list  of 
such  vessels  with  the  date  of  their  loss  is  as  follows: 

Albany,  1854;  Epervier,  18 15;  Hornet,  1829;  Insurgent,  1800; 
Levant,  i860;  Lynx,  1820;  Porpoise,  1833;  Sea  Gull  2d,  1839;  Sylph 
id,  1 831;  Wasp  $d,  1 8 17. 

The  searching  out  of  these  supposed  dates  of  loss  is  a  matter  of 


184 


NOTES     AND     QUERIES. 


considerable  research  and  I  do  not  know  that  it  would  be  possible  to 
obtain  the  date  accurately.  Some  of  the  vessels  were  considered  as 
being  lost  at  a  date  fixed  by  law,  for  instance,  the  Albany  was  considered 
as  having  been  lost  at  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year  1855,  although  she  was 
probably  lost  some  time  in  April.  The  Levant  sailed  from  Hilo,  Ha- 
waiian Islands,  about  the  19th  of  April,  i860,  and  was  lost  on  her  home- 
ward passage  at  an  indefinite  d^ate. 

I  regret  that  I  have  not  the  time  to  take  up  this  matter  thoroughly 
myself,  but  if  you  have  someone  who  could  examine  the  records  and 
search  it  out  I  would  be  very  glad  to  put  every  convenience  in  his  way. 

Very  respectfully, 

Charles  W.  Stewart, 
Superintendent  Library  and  Naval  War  Records. 


NOTES    AND    QUERIES 


The  Refugees  of  1776  From  Long 
Island  to  Connecticut 

These  Refugees  crossed  Long  Island 
Sound  as  a  direct  result  of  the  Battle 
of  Long  Island,  Aug.  27,  1776,  which 
gave  possession  of  the  Island  to  the 
British. 

Investigations  of  the  original  docu- 
ments at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  led  to  my  com- 
piling and  editing  "  New  York  in  the 
Revolution";  and  the  "Supplement" 
to  the  same.  In  the  latter,  for  want 
of  space,  only  a  brief  mention  was  made 
of  the  Refugees.  Many  of  them  after- 
ward served  in  the  Army. 

I  have  now,  nearly  ready  for  the 
press,  copies  of  all  the  original  docu- 
ments relating  to  the  Refugees — which 
copies  will  be  printed  as  an  Appendix. 
The  documents  will  be  preceded  by  a 
short  historical  sketch  stating  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  the  Refugees 
made  their  flight.  The  book  will  fill 
an  important  gap  in  the  history  of  this 
section  during  the  Revolutionary  War. 


I  am  advised  that  it  would  add  much 
to  the  value  of  this  work  if  the  Refu- 
gees could  be  identified  as  to  their 
place  of  final  residence.  That  is,  did 
they  remain  in  Connecticut,  or  did  they 
return  to  Long  Island?  Also,  in  what 
places  did  they  settle?  Where  are  their 
descendants  to-day,  and  what  are  their 
names? 

The  list  below  *  contains  a  marked 
name  (or  names)  concerning  which  I 
am  led  to  believe  you  may  be  able  to 
answer  the  questions  noted  above.  If 
you  can  answer  them  please  do  so  at 
your  earliest  convenience.  If  you  can- 
not, please  give  the  name  of  some  one 
who  can ;  or  mention  some  book  that 
probably  contains  the  information.  It 
may  be  that  you  can  give  information 
as  to  other  names  that  are  not  marked. 
At  any  rate,  please  return  the  card,  so 

*(This  list  comprises  several  hundred 
names,  of  course  too  many  to  print.  Some 
are  Conkling,  Griffing,  Howell,  King,  Mil- 
ler, Moore,  Persons,  Topping,  Wells.  Mr. 
Mather  will  send  full  list  to  inquirers.) — Ed. 


NOTES     AND     QUERIES. 


I85 


that     information     can     be     sought     in 
another  direction. 

I  will  thank  you,  in  advance,  for  any- 
thing you  may  do  in  the  interest  of  his- 
torical accuracy. 

Frederic  G.  Mather. 
184   Fairfield   Avenue, 
Stamford,   Conn., 


Dear  Editor: 

Ever  since  I  read  Colonel  Keith's  let- 
ter in  your  May  number,  I  have  been 
trying  to  find  out  something  about  him 
and  his  friend  J.  P.  Palmer.  Now  I 
have  found  it. 

Colonel  Israel  Keith  was  without 
doubt  of  Bridgewater,  the  son  of  Israel 
and  Betty  (Chandler)  Keith,  born 
1744,  and  who  married,  1767,  Abigail, 
daughter  of  Nathan  Leonard.  His 
father  died  when  Israel  was  a  lad,  and 
his  mother  married,  second,  1749,  Joseph 
Harvey.  He  was  a  Lexington  Alarm 
Man ;  also  during  the  siege  of  Boston  in 
companies  of  Captain  James  Adams  and 
Captain  Abram  Washburn.  His  career 
must  have  been  honorable,  as  his  promo- 
tions were  rapid.  At  the  time  of  the 
writing  of  his  memorable  letter  Septem- 
ber 26,  1776,  concerning  the  retreat 
from  Long  Island,  he  is  styled  colonel, 
which  may  mean  lieutenant-colonel. 

Joseph  Pearse  Palmer  was  the  only 
son  of  General  Palmer,  a  prominent 
actor  in  the  Revolutionary  drama  in 
Massachusetts,  and  Mary,  the  sister  of 
Judge  Richard  Cranch,  who  resided  in 
that  part  of  Braintree  called  German- 
town.  Before  the  war  he  dealt  in  West 
India  goods  and  hardware,  at  the  Town 
dock.  Of  his  share  in  the  Tea  Party, 
his  widow  says:  "  One  evening  about 
ten  o'clock,  hearing  the  gate  and  door 


open,  I  opened  the  parlor  door,  and  there 
stood  three  stout-looking  Indians.  I 
screamed,  and  should  have  fainted,  but 
recognizing  my  husband's  voice  saying, 
'  Don't  be  frightened,  Betty,  it  is  I.  We 
have  only  been  making  a  little  salt  water 
tea.'  His  two  companions  were  Foster 
Condy  and  Stephen  Bruce.  Soon  after 
this  Secretary  Flucker  called  upon  my 
husband,  and  said  to  him,  '  Joe,  you  are 
so  obnoxious  to  the  British  Government 
that  you  had  better  leave  town.'  Ac- 
cordingly we  left  town,  and  went  to  live 
in  part  of  my  father's  house  in  Water- 
town."  During  the  war  Mr.  Palmer 
served  in  Boston  and  in  Rhode  Island, 
first  as  brigade  major,  and  next  as  quar- 
termaster general.  Soon  after  his  father's 
death,  in  1788,  he  went  to  Vermont  with 
Colonel  Keith  to  examine  the  facilities 
for  establishing  themselves  in  some 
branch  of  the  iron  business.  Shortly 
aft°r  he  reached  Windsor  he  lost  his 
life,  having  accidentally  fallen  from  a 
bridge,  then  erecting  over  the  Connecti- 
cut. He  left  a  numerous  family.  His 
daughter,  Mary,  married  Royal  Tyler, 
of  Vermont,  Member  Massachusetts 
Lodge,  1773.  {Tea  L'eaves  of  1773.) 
A  distinguished  son  of  this  marriage  was 
General  T0hn  Steele  Tyler,  born  Guil- 
ford, Vt.,  Sept.  28,  1796.  Died,  Bos- 
ton, Jan.  20,  1876.  He  was  Captain 
Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Com- 
pany of  Massachusetts,  1832,  1844, 
1847,  and  i860.  He  was  also  a  much 
beloved  Free  Mason,  of  St.  John's 
Lodge,   1820,  to  his  death. 

A.  A.  Folsom. 
Brookline,  Mass.,  Nov.  27. 


Ephraim    Douglass 
Was  born  in  the  year   1749.     A  sol- 
dier  in   the   Revolution,    he  was   taken 


i86 


MINOR     TOPICS. 


prisoner  by  the  British  at  the  battle 
of  Bound  Brook,  where  he  was  acting 
as  aide-de-camp  to  General  Benjamin 
Lincoln.  He  was  imprisoned  at  Graves- 
end,  L.  I.,  until  1780,  when  he  returned 
to  Pittsburg,  which  was  his  home  before 
the  commencement  of  the  war. 

In  1783  he  was  appointed  a  commis- 
sioner to  visit  the  Indians  in  the  West 
and  inform  them  of  the  termination  of 
the  war.  He  visited  Detroit,  reaching 
that  place  July  4,  1783,  but  the  com- 
mandant, Major  Arent  Schuyler  De 
Peyster,  would  not  permit  him  to  meet 
the  Indians  in  council.  He  next  vis- 
ited Niagara,  but  here  the  commandant, 
Major  Allan  McLean,  also  refused  to 
permit    him    to    talk   with    the    Indians. 

He  made  a  report  to  Congress,  on  his 
return,  of  his  undertakings  and  failures. 

Fayette  County,  Pennsylvania,  was 
organized  in  1783  and  Douglass  was 
appointed  prothonotary — an  office  which 
he  held  for  many  years.  He  lived  in 
Uniontown,  in  that  county,  until  his 
death,  July    17,    1833. 


It  has  been  stated  that  his  father's 
name  was  Adam  Douglass.  Is  that  a 
fact  ?     Where  was  he  born  ? 

It  is  also  said  that  he  was  never  mar- 
ried. If  that  is  a  fact,  who  is  the  Eph- 
raim  Douglass  mentioned  in  his  will? 

I    would   like   to   receive   information 
concerning   him   that   is   not   already   in 
print.      I   believe   I   have   exhausted   the 
printed   material   in   my   researches. 
C.   M.   Burton 
27  Brainard  St.,  Detroit. 


A  life  of  Gov.  Thomas  Pownall  is 
preparing  by  one  of  his  descendants  in 
England,  and  will  probably  be  published 
this  year.  Anyone  having  any  material 
relating  to  Pownall  is  asked  to  commu- 
nicate with  the  Editor  of  the  Maga- 
zine. 

Note. — We  regret  that  by  oversight  we 
failed  to  credit  to  the  Evening  Post,  N.  Y.,  the 
two  articles  by  Mr.  Todd,  on  the  "  Wisconsin 
Historical  Society"  (December),  and  "  Blen- 
nerhasset  and  His  Island"   (October). — Ed. 


I 


THE    DUTCHMAN'S    FIRESIDE. 
CHAPTER    XXXIX 

A    NIGHT   ADVENTURE 

T'S  plaguy  hard,"  muttered  Timothy  to  himself. 
"What?"  quoth  Sybrandt. 
"  Why,  not  to  have  the  privilege   of  shooting  one  of  these 


varmints." 


"  Not  another  word,"  whispered  Sybrandt;  "  we  may  be  overheard 
from  the  shore." 

"Does  he  think  I  don't  know  what's  what?"  again  muttered 
Timothy,  plying  his  paddle  with  a  celerity  and  silence  that  Sybrandt 
vainly  tried  to  equal. 

The  night  gradually  grew  dark  as  pitch.  All  became  of  one  color,  and 
the  earth  and  the  air  were  confounded  together  in  utter  obscurity,  at  least 
to  the  eyes  of  Sybrandt  Westbrook.  Not  a  breath  of  wind  disturbed  the 
foliage  of  the  trees,  that  hung  invisible  to  all  eyes  but  those  of  Timothy, 
who  seemed  to  see  best  in  the  dark;  not  an  echo,  not  a  whisper  disturbed 
the  dead  silence  of  nature,  as  they  darted  along  unseen  and  unseeing, — 
at  least  our  hero  could  see  nothing  but  darkness. 

"  Whist !  "  aspirated  Timothy,  at  length,  so  low  that  he  could  scarcely 
hear  himself;  and  after  making  a  few  strokes  with  his  paddle,  so  as  to 
shoot  the  boat  out  of  her  course,  cowered  himself  down  to  the  bottom. 
Sybrandt  did  the  same,  peering  just  over  the  side  of  the  boat,  to  discover 
if  possible  the  reason  of  Timothy's  manoeuvers.  Suddenly  he  heard,  or 
thought  he  heard,  the  measured  sound  of  paddles  dipping  lightly  into  the 
water.  A  few  minutes  more,  and  he  saw  five  or  six  little  lights  glimmer- 
ing indistinctly  through  the  obscurity,  apparently  at  a  great  distance. 
Timothy  raised  himself  up  suddenly,  seized  his  gun,  and  pointed  it  for  a 
moment  at  one  of  the  lights;  but  recollecting  the  injunction  of  Sir  Wil- 
liam, immediately  resumed  his  former  position.  In  a  few  minutes  the 
sound  of  the  paddles  died  away,  and  the  lights  disappeared. 

187 


1 88  the  Dutchman's    fireside. 

"  What  was  that?  "  whispered  Sybrandt. 

"  The  Frenchmen  are  turning  the  tables  on  us,  I  guess,"  replied  the 
other.  "  If  that  boat  isn't  going  a-spying  jist  like  ourselves,  I'm  quite  out 
in  my  calculation." 

"What!  with  lights?     They  must  be  great  fools." 

"  It  was  only  the  fire  of  their  pipes,  which  the  darkness  made  look 
like  so  many  candles.  I'm  thinking  what  a  fine  mark  these  lights  would 
have  bin;  and  how  I  could  have  peppered  two  or  three  of  them,  if  Sir 
William  had  not  bin  so  plaguy  obstinate." 

"  Peppered  them!  why,  they  were  half-a-dozen  miles  off." 

"  They  were  within  fifty  yards — the  critters;  I  could  have  broke  all 
their  pipes  as  easy  as  kiss  my  hand." 

"  How  do  you  know  they  were  critters,  as  you  call  the  Indians !  " 

"  Why,  did  you  ever  hear  so  many  Frenchmen  make  so  little  noise?  " 

This  reply  was  perfectly  convincing;  and  Sybrandt  again  enjoining 
silence,  they  proceeded  with  the  same  celerity,  and  in  the  same  intensity 
of  darkness  as  before,  for  more  than  an  hour.  This  brought  them,  at 
the  swift  rate  they  were  going,  a  distance  of  at  least  twenty  miles  from 
the  place  of  their  departure. 

Turning  a  sharp  angle,  at  the  expiration  of  the  time  just  specified, 
Timothy  suddenly  stopped  his  paddle  as  before,  and  cowered  down  at 
the  bottom  of  the  canoe.  Sybrandt  had  no  occasion  to  inquire  the  reason 
of  this  action;  for  happening  to  look  towards  the  shore,  he  could  discover 
at  a  distance  innumerable  lights  glimmering  and  flashing  amid  the  ob- 
scurity, and  rendering  the  darkness  beyond  the  sphere  of  their  influence 
still  more  profound.  These  lights  appeared  to  extend  several  miles  along 
what  he  supposed  to  be  the  strait  or  lake,  which  occasionally  reflected  their 
glancing  rays  upon  its  quiet  bosom. 

"There  they  are,  the  critters,"  whispered  Timothy,  exultingly; 
"  we've  treed  'em  at  last,  I  swow.  Now,  mister,  let  me  ask  you  one  ques- 
tion— will  you  obey  my  orders?  " 

"  If  I  like  them,"  said  Sybrandt. 

"  Ay,  like  or  no  like.     I  must  be  captain  for  a  little  time,  at  least." 

"  I  have  no  objection  to  benefit  by  your  experience." 


the  Dutchman's    fireside.  189 

"  Can  you  play  Ingen  when  you  are  put  to  it?  " 

"  I  have  been  among  them,  and  know  something  of  their  character 
and  manners." 

"Can  you  talk  Ingen?" 

"No!" 

"Ah!  your  education  has  been  sadly  neglected.  But  come,  there's 
no  time  to  waste  in  talking  Ingen  or  English.  We  must  get  right  in  the 
middle  of  these  critters.  Can  you  creep  on  all-fours  without  waking  up 
a  cricket?  " 

"No!" 

"  Plague  on  it!  I  wonder  what  Sir  William  meant  by  sending  you 
with  me.     I  could  have  done  better  by  myself.     Are  you  afeerd?  " 

"  Try  me." 

"  Well,  then,  I  must  make  the  best  of  the  matter.  The  critters  are 
camped  out — I  see  by  their  fires — by  themselves.  I  can't  stop  to  tell  you 
every  thing;  but  you  must  keep  close  to  me,  do  jist  as  I  do,  and  say  noth- 
ing; that's  all." 

"  I  am  likely  to  play  a  pretty  part,  I  see." 

"Play!  you'll  find  no  play  here,  I  guess,  mister.  Set  down  close; 
make  no  noise;  and  if  you  go  to  sneeze  or  cough,  take  right  hold  of  your 
throat,  and  let  it  go  downwards." 

Sybrandt  obeyed  his  injunctions;  and  Timothy  proceeded  towards 
the  lights,  which  appeared  much  farther  off  in  the  darkness  than  they 
really  were,  handling  his  paddle  with  such  lightness  and  dexterity  that 
Sybrandt  could  not  hear  the  strokes.  In  this  manner  they  swiftly  ap- 
proached the  encampment,  until'  they  could  distinguish  a  confused  noise 
of  shoutings  and  hallooings,  which  gradually  broke  on  their  ears  in  dis- 
cordant violence.     Timothy  stopped  his  paddle  and  listened. 

"It  is  the  song  of  those  tarnal  critters,  the  Utawas.  They're  in  a 
drunken  frolic,  as  they  always  are  the  night  before  going  to  battle.  I 
know  the  critters,  for  I've  popped  off  a  few,  and  can  talk  and  sing  their 
songs  pretty  considerably,  I  guess.  So  we'll  be  among  'em  right  off. 
Don't  forget  what  I  told  you  about  doing  as  I  do,  and  holding  your 
tongue." 


190  the  Dutchman's    fireside. 

Cautiously  plying  his  paddle,  he  now  shot  in  close  to  the  shore  whence 
the  sounds  of  revelry  proceeded,  and  made  the  land  at  some  little  distance, 
that  he  might  avoid  the  sentinels,  whom  they  could  hear  ever  and  anon 
challenging  each  other.  They  then  drew  up  the  light  canoe  into  the 
bushes,  which  here  closely  skirted  the  waters.  "  Now  leave  all  behind 
but  yourself,  and  follow  me,"  whispered  Timothy,  as  he  carefully  felt 
whether  the  muskets  were  well  covered  from  the  damps  of  the  night; 
and  then  laid  himself  down  on  his  face,  and  crawled  along  under  the 
bushes  with  the  quiet  celerity  of  a  snake  in  the  grass. 

"  Must  we  leave  our  guns  behind,"  whispered  Sybrandt. 

"  Yes,  according  to  orders;  but  it's  a  plaguy  hard  case.  Yet  upon 
the  whole  it's  best;  for  if  I  was  to  get  a  fair  chance  at  one  of  these  critters, 
I  believe  in  my  heart  my  gun  would  go  off  clean  of  itself.  But  hush ! 
shut  your  mouth  as  close  as  a  powderhorn." 

After  proceeding  some  distance,  Sybrandt  getting  well  scratched  by 
the  briars,  and  finding  infinite  difficulty  in  keeping  up  with  Timothy,  the 
latter  stopped  short. 

"  Here  the  critters  are,"  said  he,  in  the  lowest  whisper. 

"  Where?  "  replied  the  other  in  the  same  tone. 

"  Look  right  before  you." 

Sybrandt  followed  the  direction,  and  beheld  a  group  of  five  or  six 
Indians  seated  round  a  fire,  the  waning  luster  of  which  cast  a  fitful  light 
upon  their  dark  countenances,  whose  savage  expression  was  heightened 
to  ferocity  by  the  stimulant  of  the  debauch  in  which  they  were  engaged. 
They  sat  on  the  ground  swaying  to  and  fro,  backward  and  forward,  and 
from  side  to  side,  ever  and  anon  passing  round  the  canteen  from  one  to 
the  other,  and  sometimes  rudely  snatching  it  away,  when  they  thought 
either  was  drinking  more  than  his  share.  At  intervals  they  broke  out 
into  yelling  and  discordant  songs,  filled  with  extravagant  boastings  of 
murders,  massacres,  burnings,  and  plunderings,  mixed  up  with  threaten- 
ings  of  what  they  would  do  to  the  red-coat  long  knives  on  the  morrow. 
One  of  these  songs  recited  the  destruction  of  a  village,  and  bore  a  striking 
resemblance  to  the  bloody  catastrophe  of  poor  Timothy's  wife  and  chil- 
dren. Sybrandt  could  not  understand  it,  but  he  could  hear  the  quick 
suppressed  breathings  of  his  companion,  who,  when  it  was  done,  aspirated, 
in  a  tone  of  smothered  vengeance,  "  If  I  only  had  my  gun  !  " 


the  Dutchman's    fireside.  191 

"  Stay  here  a  moment,"  whispered  he,  as  he  crept  cautiously  towards 
the  noisy  group,  which  all  at  once  became  perfectly  quiet,  and  remained 
in  the  attitude  of  listening. 

"Huh!"  muttered  one,  who  appeared  by  his  dress  to  be  the 
principal. 

Timothy  replied  in  a  few  Indian  words,  which  Sybrandt  did  not  com- 
prehend; and  raising  himself  from  the  ground,  suddenly  appeared  in  the 
midst  of  them.  A  few  words  were  rapidly  interchanged;  and  Timothy 
then  brought  forward  his  companion,  whom  he  presented  to  the  Utawas, 
who  welcomed  him  and  handed  the  canteen,  now  almost  empty. 

"  My  brother  does  not  talk,"  said  Timothy. 

"  Is  he  dumb?  "  asked  the  chief  of  the  Utawas. 

"  No;  but  he  has  sworn  not  to  open  his  mouth  till  he  has  struck  the 
body  of  a  long  knife." 

"  Good,"  said  the  other;  "  he  is  welcome." 

After  a  pause  he  went  on,  at  the  same  time  eying  Sybrandt  with 
suspicion;  though  his  faculties  were  obscured  by  the  fumes  of  the  liquor 
he  still  continued  to  drink,  and  hand  round  at  short  intervals. 

"  I  don't  remember  the  young  warrior.     Is  he  of  our  tribe?  " 

"  He  is;  but  he  was  stolen  by  the  Mohawks  many  years  ago,  and  only 
returned  lately." 

"  How  did  he  escape?  " 

"  He  killed  two  chiefs  while  they  were  asleep  by  the  fire,  and  ran 
away." 

"  Good,"  said  the  Utawas;  and  for  a  few  moments  sunk  into  a  kind 
of  stupor,  from  which  he  suddenly  roused  himself,  and  grasping  his 
tomahawk  started  up,  rushed  towards  Sybrandt,  and  raising  his  deadly 
weapon,  stood  over  him  in  the  attitude  of  striking.  Sybrandt  remained 
perfectly  unmoved,  waiting  the  stroke. 

"  Good,"  said  the  Utawas  again;  "  I  am  satisfied;  the  Utawas  never 
shuts  his  eyes  at  death.  He  is  worthy  to  be  our  brother.  He  shall  go 
with  us  to  battle  to-morrow." 

'  We  have  just  come  in  time,"  said  Timothy.     "  Does  the  white 
chief  march  against  the  red-coats  to-morrow?  " 


192  THE    DUTCHMAN  S     FIRESIDE. 

"  He  does." 

"  Has  he  men  enough  to  fight  them?  " 

"  They  are  like  the  leaves  on  the  trees,"  said  the  other. 

By  degrees  Timothy  drew  from  the  Utawas  chief  the  number  of 
Frenchmen,  Indians,  and  coureurs  de  bois,  which  composed  the  army;  the 
time  when  they  were  to  commence  their  march;  the  course  they  were  to 
take,  and  the  outlines  of  the  plan  of  attack,  in  case  the  British  either 
waited  for  them  in  the  fort  or  met  them  in  the  field.  By  the  time  he 
had  finished  his  examination,  the  whole  party  with  the  exception  of  Timo- 
thy, Sybrandt,  and  the  chief,  were  fast  asleep.  In  a  few  minutes  after, 
the  two  former  affected  to  be  in  the  same  state,  and  began  to  snore  lustily. 
The  Utawas  chief  nodded  from  side  to  side;  then  sunk  down  like  a  log, 
and  remained  insensible  to  everything  around  him,  in  the  sleep  of 
drunkenness. 

Timothy  lay  without  motion  for  a  while,  then  turned  himself  over, 
and  rolled  about  from  side  to  side,  managing  to  strike  against  each  of 
the  party  in  succession.  They  remained  fast  asleep.  He  then  cautiously 
raised  himself,  and  Sybrandt  did  the  same.  In  a  moment  Timothy  was 
down  again,  and  Sybrandt  followed  his  example  without  knowing  why, 
until  he  heard  some  one  approach,  and  distinguished,  as  they  came  nigh, 
two  officers,  apparently  of  rank.  They  halted  near  the  waning  fire,  and 
one  said  to  the  other  in  French,  in  a  low  tone : 

"  The  beasts  are  all  asleep;  it  is  time  to  wake  them.  Our  spies  are 
come  back,  and  we  must  march." 

"  Not  yet,"  replied  the  other;  "  let  them  sleep  an  hour  longer,  and 
they  will  wake  sober."  They  then  passed  on,  and  when  their  footsteps 
were  no  longer  heard,  Timothy  again  raised  himself  up,  motioning  oue 
hero  to  lie  still.  After  ascertaining  by  certain  tests  which  experience  had 
taught  him  that  the  Indians  still  continued  in  a  profound  sleep,  he  pro- 
ceeded with  wonderful  dexterity  and  silence  to  shake  the  priming  from 
each  of  the  guns  in  succession.  After  this,  he  took  their  powder-horns 
and  emptied  them;  then  seizing  the  tomahawk  of  the  Utawas  chief, 
which  had  dropped  from  his  hand,  he  stood  over  him  for  a  moment,  with 
an  expression  of  deadly  hatred  which  Sybrandt  had  never  before  seen  in 
his  or  in  any  other  countenance.  The  intense  desire  of  killing  one  of  the 
critters,  as  he  called  them,  struggled  a  few  moments  with  his  obligations 
to  obey  the  orders  of  Sir  William;  but  the  latter  at  length  triumphed, 


the  Dutchman's    fireside.  193 

and  motioning  Sybrandt,  they  crawled  away  with  the  silence  and  celerity 
with  which  they  came;  launched  their  light  canoe,  and  plied  their  paddles 
with  might  and  main.  "  The  morning  breeze  is  springing  up,"  said 
Timothy,  "  and  it  will  soon  be  daylight.     We  must  be  tarnal  busy." 

And  busy  they  were,  and  swiftly  did  the  light  canoe  slide  over  the 
wave,  leaving  scarce  a  wake  behind  her.  As  they  turned  the  angle  which 
hid  the  encampment  from  their  view,  Timothy  ventured  to  speak  a  little 
above  his  breath. 

"  It's  lucky  for  us  that  the  boat  we  passed  coming  down  has  returned, 
for  it's  growing  light  apace.     I'm  only  sorry  for  one  thing." 

"What's  that?"  asked  Sybrandt. 

"  That  I  let  that  drunken  Utawas  alone.  If  I  had  only  bin  out 
on  my  own  bottom,  he'd  have  bin  stun  dead  in  a  twinkling,  I  guess." 

"  And  you  too,  I  guess''  said  Sybrandt,  adopting  his  peculiar 
phraseology;  "  you  would  have  been  overtaken  and  killed." 

"  Who,  I  ?  I  must  be  a  poor  critter  if  I  can't  dodge  half  a  dozen  of 
these  drunken  varmints." 

A  few  hours  of  sturdy  exertion  brought  them  at  length  within  sight 
of  Ticonderoga,  just  as  the  red  harbingers  of  morning  striped  the  pale 
green  of  the  skies.  Star  after  star  disappeared,  as  Timothy  observed, 
like  candles  that  had  been  burning  all  night  and  gone  out  of  themselves, 
and  as  they  struck  the  foot  of  the  high  bluff  whence  they  had  departed, 
the  rays  of  the  sun  just  tipped  the  peaks  of  the  high  mountains  rising  to- 
wards the  west.     Timothy  then  shook  hands  with  our  hero. 

"  You're  a  hearty  critter,"  said  he,  "  and  I'll  tell  Sir  William  how 
you  looked  at  that  tarnal  tomahawk  as  if  it  had  bin  an  old  pipe-stem." 

Without  losing  a  moment,  they  proceeded  to  the  quarters  of  Sir 
William,  whom  they  found  waiting  for  them  with  extreme  anxiety.  He 
extended  both  hands  towards  our  hero,  and  eagerly  exclaimed: 

"What  luck,  my  lads?  I  have  been  up  all  night,  waiting  your 
return." 

"  Then  you  will  be  quite  likely  to  sleep  sound  to-night,"  quoth  master 
Timothy,  unbending  the  intense  rigidity  of  his  leathern  countenance.  "  I 
am  of  opinion  if  a  man  wants  to  have  a  real  good  night's  rest,  he's  only 
to  set  up  the  night  before,  and  he  may  calculate  upon  it  with  sartinty." 


194  THE    DUTCHMAN  S     FIRESIDE. 

"  Hold  your  tongue,  Timothy,"  said  Sir  William,  good-humouredly, 
"  or  else  speak  to  the  purpose.     Have  you  been  at  the  enemy's  camp?  " 

"  Right  in  their  very  bowels,"  said  Timothy. 

Sir  William  proceeded  to  question,  and  Sybrandt  and  Timothy  to 
answer,  until  he  drew  from  them  all  the  important  information  of  which 
they  had  possessed  themselves.  He  then  dismissed  Timothy  with  cordial 
thanks  and  a  purse  of  yellow-boys,  which  he  received  with  much  satisfac- 
tion. 

"  It's  not  of  any  great  use  to  me,  to  be  sure,"  said  he  as  he  departed; 
"  but  somehow  or  other  I  love  to  look  at  the  critters." 

"  As  to  you,  Sybrandt  Westbrook,  you  have  fulfilled  the  expectations 
I  formed  of  you  on  our  first  acquaintance.  You  claim  a  higher  reward; 
for  you  have  acted  from  higher  motives  and  at  least  equal  courage  and 
resolution.  His  Majesty  shall  know  of  this;  and,  in  the  mean  time,  call 
yourself  Major  Westbrook,  for  such  you  are  from  this  moment.  Now 
go  with  me  to  the  commander-in-chief,  who  must  know  of  what  you  heard 
and  saw." 

James  K.  Paulding. 

(To  be  continued.) 


BOOK    REVIEWS 


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gain "  the  publisher  "  has  produced  a  his- 
tory in  a  garb  richer  than  that  of  any  that 
have  gone  before  it."  Liberally  mapped,  in- 
structively illustrated  and  beautifully  printed, 


these  sumptuous  volumes  speak  for  themselves. 
With  maps  unexcelled  for  clearness,  with 
illustrations  that  are  superb  and  with  a  text 
that  is  pure  and  truthful,  graphic  and  devoid 
of  political  or  social  bias  this  work  is  a 
masterpiece  of  historical  literature. 

It  was  not  designed  for  professional  his- 
torical students.  It  is  not  a  reference  work 
but  is  a  narrative,  readable  and  charming. 
On  mooted  and  doubtful  facts  the  author  has 
consulted  many  critical  authorities,  enabling 
him  to  carry  the  general  reader  over  chasms 
of  the  indeterminate  and  doubtful.  The  lay 
reader  is  mainly  interested  in  a  clear  and  com- 
prehensive perspective  of  the  past.  For  him 
this  work  surpasses  any  other  of  its  kind 
in  the  English  language. 

In  each  of  the  three  volumes  published  there 
is  clarity  of  diction  and  breadth  of  view.  In 
the  first  the  reader  is  carried  back  to  prehis- 
toric times,  to  the  Neolithic  Americans  and 
the  Northmen  and  brought  down  through  the 
period  of  discovery  to  1600.  Every  page  of 
this  volume  is  a  reminder  of  how  the  New 
World  came  to  be  as  it  was  at  the  time  of 
its  discovery. 

The  second  volume  treats  in  detail  of  the 
explorations  and  colonization  by  the  various 
European  nations  and  of  their  struggles  for 
supremacy.  In  the  third  volume  the  narrative 
brings  the  trend  of  events  down  to  the  time 
when  two  dominant  nations,  the  English  and 
the  French,  vied  with  each  other  for  the  con- 
trol of  all  North  America. 

These  volumes  are  the  realization  of  high 
ideals  in  book-making,  and  the  publisher  has 
become  justly  celebrated  for  the  publication 
of  the  finest  edition  de  luxe  of  Lorna  Doone, 
The  Jesuit  Relations  and  many  others  well 
known  to  every  book-lover. 

At  the  end  of  each  volume  a  carefully 
prepared  bibliographical  appendix  for  each 
chapter  gives  ample  suggestions  for  further 
study. 


195 


196 


BOOK     REVIEWS. 


Here  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  results 
of  modern  book-making  in  historical  litera- 
ture, offered  in  a  style  of  rare  literary  ex- 
cellence. 


Colonel  William  Wood,  the  author  of  The 
Fight  for  Canada,  has  just  taken  in  hand  a 
volume  on  The  Naval  Conquest  of  Canada  for 
the  Champlain  Society,  who  hope  to  have  it 
published  before  the  end  of  the  year.  Two- 
thirds  of  the  letterpress  will  be  'verbatim  ex- 
tracts from  the  logs  of  the  ships  engaged  in 
the  three  campaigns  of  Louisburg,  1758,  Que- 
bec, 1759,  and  Montreal,  1760 — The  rest  will 
comprise  an  index,  notes,  bibliography  of 
original  documents,  and  an  elaborate  intro- 
duction of  about  40,000  words  in  five  chapters. 
The  first  chapter  will  show  the  relations  of  the 
American  campaigns  to  the  world-wide 
scheme  of  naval  strategy  in  the  Seven  Years' 
War.  The  second  will  deal  with  Louisburg. 
The  third  will  show  how  Saunders  brought 
a  fleet  and  convoy  of  277  sail  of  all  kinds, 
from  a  90-gun  man-of-war  to  a  tiny  sloop, 
up  the  intricate  pilot  waters  of  the  St.  Law- 
rence to  Quebec.  The  fourth  will  be  con- 
cerned with  the  naval  side  of  Wolfe's  siege 
and  the  Battle  of  the  Plains.  While  the  fifth 
will  close  the  subject  with  the  surrender  of 
Montreal  the  following  year.  The  book  will 
be  amply  provided  with  contemporary  charts, 
none  of  which  have  hitherto  been  reproduced. 
Facsimiles  of  Jeffrey's  Nova  Scotia  and  Louis- 
burg will  illustrate  the  first  two  chapters; 
while  the  advance  on  Quebec  will  be  shown 
by  means  of  a  large-scale  chart  based  on  the 
great  Captain  Cook's  original  survey  of  1760. 
The  edition,  according  to  the  rules  of  the 
Society,  is  strictly  limited  to  500  copies,  half  of 
which  go  to  the  members  and  the  other  half 
to  other  special  subscribers. 


THE  WOOLSON-FENNO  ANCESTRY 
and  Allied  Lines,  with  Biographical  Sketches. 
By  Lula  May  (Fenno)  Woolson  and  Charles 
Amasa  Woolson  of  Springfield,  Vt,  Illus. 
i2mo.  III.  144  pp.  Privately  printed,  1907. 
Price  $3.00. 

More  than  ten  years  of  study  on  their  an- 
cestry is  brought  out  by  the  authors  in  this 
beautiful  volume  from  the  press  of  T.  R. 
Marvin  and  Son  of  Boston.  The  work  is 
creditable  to  the  authors  and  printers  alike. 

To  the  genealogical  history  of  the  Woolson 
and  Fenno  families  the  first  forty  pages  are 
exclusively  devoted.  The  allied  families 
which  follow  are:  Adams,  Andrews,  Arm- 
strong, Badlam,  Baker,  Barney,  Beers,  Bel- 
cher, Bixby,  Blake,  Brackett,  Brooks,  Brown, 
Bullock,  Chase,  Cooke,  Cowen,  Crafts,  Cragin, 
Cummings,  Dexter,  Dodge,  Esten,  Farwell, 
Flint,  Ford,  Gibbons,  Gould,  Harriman,  Hawes, 
Haynes,  Horton,  Hovey,  Howlett,  Humphrey, 
Hunt,  Hyde,  Jenkins,  Johnson,  Kenney,  Kim- 
ball, Kinsley,  Knight,  Learned,  Lillie,  Lin- 
coln, Look,  Lovell,  Mandell,  Marsh,  Martin, 
Mason,  Mitchell,  Moulton,  Packard,  Page, 
Phillips,  Pratt,  Richardson,  Robbins,  Russell, 
Stearns  Swan,  Tilden,  Tucker,  Turner,  Tyler, 
Upham,  Vaughan,  Washburn,  West,  Wheeler, 
Wheelock  and  Witt — all  colonial  families 
of  New  England. 

At  the  end  of  the  genealogies  may  be 
found  A  Tribute  of  Love — a  reprint  of  a 
booklet  containing  a  sketch  of  distinguished 
members  of  the  Woolson  family. 

Finely  illustrated  with  twenty-five  full  page 
cuts,  two  pedigree  charts,  table  of  contents 
and  complete  index,  the  volume  is  a  model 
of  its  class.  Printed  in  ten  and  eleven  point 
type  on  the  best  rag  paper,  it  well  represents 
the  art  of  modern  book-making.  One  hun- 
dred copies  only  were  printed. 


THE  DILEMMA 


While  there  is  happily  no  possibility  of  the  present  restlessness  in  India  resulting 
in  a  repetition  of  the  Sepoy  Mutiny  of  1857,  the  native  discontent  with  British  rule 
makes  timely  any  reference  to  that  eventful  epoch,  and  the  recent  "  golden  jubilee  " 
of  the  event,  in  London,  attended  by  seven  hundred  British  survivors,  and  at  which 
was  read  Kipling's  new  poem,  one  verse  of  which  reads: 

"  To-day  across  our  father's  graves 
Th'  astonished  years  reveal 
The  remnant  of  that  desperate  host 
Which  cleaned  our  East  with  steel," 

has  reawakened  English  memories  of  it. 

One  novel — and  only  one,  so  far  as  I  know — has  been  written  of  this  great 
struggle.  This  is  THE  DILEMMA,  by  the  late  General  Sir  George  Chesney  of 
the  British  Army.  Himself  a  participant  in  the  conflict,  and  gifted  with  a  facility 
for  description  and  narrative  seldom  joined  to  the  profession  of  arms,  he  doubtless 
embodied  some  of  his  own  experiences  in  the  book — of  which  the  Literary  World 
(then  of  Boston)  said: 

"  Neither  the  great  romance  nor  the  great  poem  of  the  Great  Mutiny  in  India 
has  yet  been  written.  For  poetry  indeed  it  hardly  furnishes  a  fitting  subject,  but 
the  most  dramatic  and  tragic  of  romances  it  might  inspire,  and  its  history  would 
easily  vie  with  the  most  thrilling  chapters  that  have  yet  been  written.  In  saying 
this,  we  do  not  forget  the  wonderful  picture  of  the  Mutiny,  in  the  story  called  The 
Dilemma,  which  found  its  way  to  American  readers  many  years  ago,  but  has  long 
since  been  out  of  print,  and  any  copy  of  which  diligent  inquiry  fails  to  discover. 

Of  this  story  of  the  Mutiny  one  Colonel  Chesney  we  think  was  the  author, 
and  we  remember  it  as  a  work  of  extraordinary  power  and  literary  skill.     Nothing 

THAT  WE  HAVE  EVER  SEEN  UPON  THE  INDIAN   MUTINY  ANYWHERE  APPROACHES 

it  in  vivid  delineation.    We  should  think  it  were  well  worth  republication  even 
now. 

This  book  I  propose  to  reprint,  if  sufficient  interest  is  manifested  by  subscrip- 
tions. It  will  be  I2m0j  of  about  400  pages,  well  printed  and  bound.  The  price 
will  be  $1.50  postpaid. 

I  shall  hope  for  a  prompt  reply  from  you,  and  a  subscription  for  several  copies. 
(It  will  not  be  in  the  trade  at  all,  therefore  please  send  orders  to  me  direct.) 

Very  truly, 

WILLIAM  ABBATT. 

141  East  25th  St.,  New  York. 


■^17-061.0*^0  %%%J~ 


■ 


Original  Narratives  of  Early  American  History 

Each  volume,  8vo,  cloth  bound,  about  450  pages  $3.00  net 

(Postage  24  cents) 

This  important  series  is  prepared  under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Historical 
Association,  and  under  the  general  editorship  of  J.  Franklin  Jameson,  Ph.D.,  LL.D., 
Director  of  the  Department  of  Historical  Kebearch  in  the  Carnegie  Institution  of 
Washington,  and  President  of  the  American  Historical  Association. 

The  volumes  are  designed  to  provide  scholars  and  other  individual  readers  of 
history,  and  the  libraries  of  schools  and  colleges,  with  a  comprehensive  and  well- 
rounded  collection  of  those  classical  narratives  on  which  the  early  history  of  the 
United  States  is  founded. 

The  editorial  apparatus  is  varied  and  full. 

"  The  special  appeal  of  the  new  series  lies  in  its  very  attractive  form,  its 
thorough  editing  and  indexing,  and  its  inclusion  in  future  volumes  of  certain  rare 
incunabula.  Dr.  Jameson  is  admirably  fitted  to  edit  such  a  series  of  reprints,  and 
his  thorough  knowledge  of  early  Americana  has  enabled  him  to  choose  only  the  best 
texts.  The  special  instructions  and  running  annotations  of  the  sub-editors  are 
simple,  scholarly  and  in  every  way  satisfactory.  The  series  is  sure  to  receive  the 
delighted  approval  of  all  students  of  American  history." — Chicago  Record-Herald. 

FOUR    VOLUMES    ALREADY    PUBLISHED 

THE  NORTHMEN,  COLUMBUS  AND  CABOT,  985-1503.     Edited  by 

Julius  E.  Olson  and  Edward  Gaylord  Bourne. 
EARLY  ENGLISH  AND  FRENCH  VOYAGES,  Chiefly  out  of  Hakluyt, 

1534-1607.     Edited  by  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  S.  Burrage,  of  the  Maine 

Historical  Society. 
THE    SPANISH    EXPLORERS    IN    THE    SOUTHERN    UNITED 

STATES.     1528-1543.     Edited  by  Frederick  W.  Hodge  and  T.  H. 

Lewis 
THE  VOYAGES  OF  SAMUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN.     Edited  by  W.  L. 

Grant,  of  Toronto. 

NARRATIVES  OF  EARLY  VIRGINIA— 1607-1625 

Edited  by   PRESIDENT    L.   G.   TYLER 

Of  the   College   of  William  and   Mary 

&3.00   Net.     Postage  24  cents. 

CONTENTS 

Observations,  by  Master  George  Percy  (1607). 

A  True  Relation,  by  Captain  John  Smith  (1608). 

Description  of  Virginia  and  Proceedings  of  the  Colonie,  by  Captain  John  Smith 

(1612). 
The  Relation  of  the  Lord  De-La-Warre   (1611). 
Letter  of  Don  Diego  de  Molina   (1613). 
Letter  of  Father  Pierre  Biard  (1614). 
Letter  of  John  Rolfe  (1614). 
Proceedings  of  the  Virginia  Assembly   (1619). 
Letter  of  John  Pory  (1619). 

The  General  History  of  Virginia,  by  Captain  John  Smith  (1624). 
The  Virginia  Planter's  Answer  to  Captain  Buller  (1623). 
The  Tragical  Relation  of  the  Virginia  Assembly  (1624). 
The  Discourse  of  the  Old  Company  (1625). 

With  3  Maps  and  Plans. 


FIFTH 


CHARLES 

AVENUE 


SCRIBNERS  SONS 

NEW  YORft